Sleep m'dear and dream of better days
by Scarecrows Host
Summary: When Jaimee Jackson, an 18-year-old girl from an alternate reality steps though the gate claiming to be both Daniel's wife and Sam and Jack's daughter, she gets more than a few raised eyebrows. As she enlists help from SG1 and General O'Neill to help find her friends, he notices something's wrong with Carter and he suspects that Daniel and Jaimee may have something to do with it.
1. Blood Types

"Sorry, Sir for not changing but I heard the message was urgent." Sam carter was walking into the infirmary with the rest of SG1 already there, wearing civvies.

"That's alright Colonel," said the General. She took her resident post beside Colonel Mitchell and her gaze followed his to the person lying in the bed. Her red hair was the colour of flames, an interesting genetic mutation, she observed, but her eyes looked strangely familiar. She had a snarl cross her face which seemed to disfigure her otherwise benevolent features. She looked away from all of them.

"Sir?" Carter asked, but it was Cameron who answered.

"She gated in this morning. She claims to be from an alternate reality. We confiscated these from her the minute she walked in." Cameron tossed her a set of dog tags, which read; _Jaimee Jackson (nee O'Neill), Blood type A+, Born 1994 November 23._

"Sir, that's Daniel's last name, General O'Neill's last name and my blood type."

"We know that Colonel. Doctor Frasier?"

"Yes, General?"

"Is she clean?"

"She has a few abrasions on her wrists, Sir, and a limp, but as far as I can tell, she's in perfect health. I'll have the DNA test results back soon. All I ask is if anything goes wrong, let me know."

"Will do." He turned to the girl lying in the bed. "Mrs. Jackson," Daniel cringed. "If we asked you to come with us to the briefing room, can I trust you to follow?"

"Can I trust that you won't order her to stick another needle in my side?" It was the first time that she had spoken and Teal'c, Daniel and Carter all noticed that she sounded like Jack O'Neill. Although her voice was a pleasant alto, poor attitude aside, rather than a deep baritone.

The general smiled, but it was void of humour. "That's just a precaution." He assured.

"Yeah, heaven knows we need more of them." She snarled. She got out the hospital bed and put on her jacket, that had been carelessly discarded by the dresser. Being covered under the bed sheets, no one noticed that she was wearing clothes unbefitting of an average teenage girl. Her socks were white, Daniel noticed as she hastily slipped her winter boots on her feet. Her jeans were black and her jacket fell to her hip. Her long blue sweatshirt that she was wearing underneath could be seen peeking through. It fell to half way down her thigh. Her hair was messily tied back and her black and white striped scarf covered her neck. On her right wrist sat a standard issue watch and on her face there was no make-up, but rather a pair of square-framed glasses. "Yes, Sir. You can trust me." Suddenly turning serious. Then everyone noticed she had braces. To Daniel, she looked like she was drowning herself in her oversized clothing.

She followed the General as she swept past Daniel and left the room. Her lame leg trailing after her.


	2. Surnames

SG1 seated themselves comfortably as Jaimee took a second to glance around the room. General Landry was sitting in his office on the phone to the president to call in a favour. He walked in hastily.

"Sorry for that people. Jack should be here in a second."

"Jacks coming?" Daniel perked up. Suddenly there was a white light behind him.

"Hey kids!" Jack was beamed in and almost startled everyone in the room. "So what's the big intergalactic emergency this time, General?"

"Jaimee Jackson." He said matter-of-factly.

The first thing that caught Jack's attention was the last name."Daniel?" Jack turned his head to the side to look at his seated friend.

"Jack?" He asked innocently.

"What did you do?"

The next moment Doctor Frasier walked in. She was looking down at her file and didn't realise that General O'Neill was in the room.

"Sir, the DNA test came back positive. She is a perfect match to Colonel Carter and General O'Neill."

The General frowned in confusion. Doctor Frasier looked up from her notes. "General O'Neill!" she exclaimed.

"Don't worry Doctor. We'll explain it to him. You're Dismissed."

"Yes, Sir." She took one look at the General and hastily left the room.

"Something you're not telling me, Carter?" He turned to Sam.

"Sir we never. I promise."

"Cuz if we did..."

"No, Sir." He could tell that Carter was nervous. "Sir, as you know there are a number of infinite universes that diverge after every decision we make. The theory is that there is another version of ourselves..."

"Carter!"

"She claims to be from an alternate reality, Sir." She shrank back into her seat.

"And she would be...?" He started.

"Our daughter from an alternate reality. Yes, Sir." She shyly looked down at the ground and the General looked confused for a moment, taking glances between the Colonel and his daughter.

"Hi dad." She said with a small grimace.

"How did you get here?"

"Black hole." She stated.

"Carter?"

"We have a team out there now, Sir getting ready to close it down."

"Actually Carter I kind of meant, how does that work?" He regretted the question the moment he had asked it.

"Well the matter stream from the Gate Technology pulls in-"

"Forget I asked." He shrugged. She smiled at the table her arms were resting on. Then the General turned to the dark red-headed girl sitting beside Cameron. "But why are you here?"pointing to her.

Jaimee Jackson was about to open her mouth, but Daniel cut her off. "I want to know why she has my last name."

"Well you can forget that, cuz I'm not going to tell you." She said somewhat angrily.

"You have my last name. That likely means we're related somehow despite the fact that your Sam and Jack's daughter." He said pointing to Jack, who was still standing. "Now, this whole thing is good and dandy, but I don't want to commit myself to something unless I know exactly what I'm getting myself into."

"Since when Danny boy?" Jack remarked. Cameron laughed, and despite herself, Sam smiled.

Daniel looked somewhat annoyed at his two friends and carried on, "the point is, I've got questions and I want answers."

At this point General O'Neill sat down beside Jaimee and took off his hat, curiously looking at Carter the whole time.

Jaimee threw a strand of hair out of her face, "And what dear Daniel do you want to know?" She said with a partially sarcastic and sadistic smile on her face.

"Everything."

"Everything about astrophysics and wormhole technology or the Olmec's of Ancient America?"

"More like what I have to do with this."

"Well for starters; O'Neill is my maiden name, Jackson is my current last name. Happy?"

Daniel smirked. "See that's impossible, because that means we're married."

"Very good, Jackson!" She said in mock congrats. "We always knew you were a smart cookie." Her mock smile faded from her face to be replaced by a grimace.

"Jack O'Neill is my father. Daniel Jackson is my husband." She stated simply.

Jack's temper flared.


	3. Exception

Jack glared at his best friend and daughter. "Okay, now I want answers."

"Hold your horses daddy-o. You have to ask a question before I can give you any answers."

"No, we're not playing a game of 20 questions. You know what's on our minds. Tell us what we need to know."

Jaimee's face fell. She hit her head on the table and grumbled. Immediately sobering up she took a deep breath. She didn't know where to start.

Almost reading her mind, Cameron said calmly, "Start from the beginning."

Treating him like the authority figure he is, she nodded her head and looked down at the ground.

"You may want to brace yourselves. This is going to be a very long story," she looked beside her to see Cameron giving her questioning looks, "but it may be easier to explain if you give me back the stone you took from me this morning."

Cameron took the stones out of his pocket and tossed them to her. She lay them gently on the table.

"As I said before, I am from an alternate reality. I was born to a Samantha Carter and Jack O'Neill. Unfortunately, the SGC and the earth along with it was destroyed shortly after my birth by Apophis. I was a baby given to Cameron Mitchell to step through the portal to go to midway and then Atlantis, while Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson, went back to get Sarah, Jason, Grace and Danielle."

"Who are they?" Daniel was a little bit more co-operative, given that he had gotten his way. His demeanor had changed.

"Sarah was your wife at the time. Jason was your one-year old son. Grace and Danielle were my older sisters."

"You have sisters?" Jack asked exasperated.

"Grace and Danielle?" Sam asked

"Had. Past tense." She shrugged. "Grace as I understand it, was your middle name." She pointed to Sam, "Danielle was named after Daniel. My middle name is Timmian. That's the feminine version of what Daniel translated Teal'c's name to be in an earthen language."

"Sarah? I thought me and you were..." He stared wide-eyed at her, "We have a son?"

"Had. Past tense." She repeated, but looked at Daniel this time. "And we are, now. But I was a baby at the time."

Daniel, at that moment reminded her of a computer that was still having problems processing data. She smiled briefly and turned to look at everyone else in the room.

"Daniel was ordered by my Dad to stay by the doorway of the room that Sarah, Jason ,Grace and Danielle were in, but the rubble fell on top of them and killed them almost instantly." She looked at the ground, "Or so I am told."

"In your reality..." Jack began.

"You're dead. I don't remember anything about you." She smiled sadly at the General. "Cameron said that Daniel and Jack had been gone a long time, so he went back to get them, before the base was completely over run. He found out that Sarah, Jack, Jason, Grace and Danielle had all been killed. Daniel was still alive but in some sort of stupor like he couldn't fully understand what was happening. Cameron dragged him back to the portal. They dialed to midway and were on their way to Atlantis.

"But the death of my father took its toll on my mother. After going through to Atlantis she started falling Ill. She was bed-stricken, and began hallucinating."

Sam looked sadly at the General sitting by their daughter. "What was she hallucinating about?"

Jaimee just shook her head. "I don't know. Cameron never told me. Although, I do remember sneaking in to see her a few times and I overheard Daniel saying 'Sleep, m 'dear and dream of better days." She looked at Daniel who was sitting directly across from her. He took a deep breath and furrowed his eyebrows. He shook his head and she continued.

"Having essentially been Orphaned, Cameron was given temporary care over me, as I was still just a baby at the time. He felt sorry for my mother and was determined to bring her out of a stupor of her own, by marrying her."

Jaimee's timing in revealing that could not have been worse. Cameron was drinking a glass of water and muttered muffled phrases of I'm okays. While Sam's mouth hung wide-open. "And I agreed?" she asked.

"Yes. Although under those conditions I doubt anyone would have expected you to do any differently. Whatever the case, it worked. If only for a short time. In your words, being with Cameron was not the same as being with my Dad, but being with someone was better than no one."

Carter and O'Neill looked at each other. Sam stole glances between Jack and Cameron. But felt as if Jack's steer was burning right through her soul. Teal'c sat still, only feeling the tension in the room. Daniel was spaced-out, only looking at Jaimee.

"But eventually you died of heartache. Or sort of died." Jaimee scrunched up her face that made her look like a confused child.

"Sort of?" Asked Sam.

Jaimee let out a deep sigh. "The day before your death, Daniel's guilt at leaving them all behind was eating at him. He thought that he could have done something more to save them and that's when Jack appeared to Daniel as an ascended being."

"I ascended?" Jack gasped. "I thought you had to be really smart for that."

Jaimee laughed but it was a good hearty laugh, not void of humour, or friendliness. It was a laugh that could warm even the coldest of hearts. "You have an ancient gene. That means, by default you are further along the evolutionary path. By the time of your death you progressed to a point where you could actually ascend, on your own, might I add." She looked around at the others again. "According to Daniel you are also very intelligent, you just preferred not to say anything." Jack feigned confusion, the same way he always did.

"Anyway, do you guys know that one big rule that the ascended can't break?"

Everyone but Teal'c nodded their heads in agreement. Teal'c just sat, stoic as always. "well, there is one exception to that rule. The ascended can artificially progress a lower, if the lower and the ascended were married in their mortal existence."


	4. The Good Doctor

Everyone gasped. "So when she died..." Jack had a habit of creating unfinished sentences these days.

"You took her with you." Jaimee finished.

Sam and Jack returned their gaze to each other. Their stares were penetrating. Daniel shook the silence.

"That doesn't quite explain me and you, though." he looked awkwardly around at everyone. "I mean the being married, thing. You're what, 16, 17?"

"18." She said with confidence, but then took interest once again at the floor beneath her feet. "Like I said, the guilt at leaving the others behind was eating at you. And having been ascended a few times before yourself, you thought that you could do it again, and then at the time of my death take me with you so that I could be reunited with my parents."

"This is all very interesting, but how do we know you're telling the truth?" Asked the General.

"That's why I bought this." Jaimee pointed to the rock sitting on the table, almost completely forgotten by everyone else in the room. "This stone has a slightly different functionality then the stones used to interface the blue terminal device with its user. It records memories and allows another user to view them. Its shut off right now so it needs someone with an ancient gene to turn it on, but it can't be me."

"Why not?" Asked General Landry.

"Because they are my memories. Me activating the device again is the same as pushing the erase button." She handed the stone to Jack O'Neill.

"General?"

"Do it, Jack." He reluctantly moved his thumb over the stone. The flashes started almost instantaneously.

_Teal'c sparred with Jaimee on the eve of her 15th birthday but she still could not best him. He had the faux staff weapon pointed to her face. He was not amused. "Your ambition to beat me is vain until you find something else to live for, Jaimee O'Neill." He offered his hand and pulled her up. Jaimee was drenched in sweat and anger coated her face with a thin layer of fury._

_"Again." She yelled. Their staff weapons hit._

_Then the scene changed._

_Ry'ac and her were talking the night after Cameron announced her forced engagement to Daniel. "I don't understand this, Ry'ac. Why would my Dad make me marry someone 30 or 40 years older than me?"_

_"It is common in human society for parents to do what is best for their children, is it not?"_

_"It is. But why must I marry him?" Jaimee was frustrated._

_Ry'ac's brow furrowed. "Do you not love him?"_

_"Huh," she huffed, "I don't think a schoolgirl crush counts as love."_

_"Perhaps one day it will grow into something more, Jaimee O'Neill."_

_Jaimee looked off into the distance beyond the stars. "Perhaps."_

_The scene changed again._

_Samantha Carter was lying down in the hospital bed. "Jack always stepped through the portal first, m 'dear. He's there now. I see him."She breathed and looked into the distance._

_Then there was a bright light raising from the bed and Sam was gone. Jaimee was crying, and Cameron pulled Jaimee onto his lap and held her tightly. "Don't worry kid, I ain't going nowhere." He drawled._

_Then the scene changed again._

_Daniel Jackson found a 12-year-old Jaimee lying underneath his computer desk with her nose in a book. It was the book of the dead. Jaimee looked up for a split second at who was standing above her. She hit her head against the side of the desk and looked wide-eyed at Daniel. She huddled closer to the desk and shook her head frantically. "I'm sorry Danny. Please don't tell Dad."_

_He smiled down at her and dragged her out. He picked her up bridal style and made her feel like a little princess. "It will be our little secret." He touched her nose with his and kissed her gently on her neck. She blushed a little bit and smiled. He began singing 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,' and she cradled her stuffed bear in her arms and quietly fell asleep. Jack saw a very pregnant black haired lady walking closely behind Daniel._

_Then the scene changed._

_Cameron Mitchell and a 17-year-old Jaimee were walking down the halls of Atlantis hand in hand. Jack O'Neill was astonished at the fact that an older teenager isn't above holding her care takers hand. The scene made him smile. _

_Then the scene changed, giving the poor man whiplash._

_Jaimee was 10 or 12 years old, and she walked into Cameron's Quarters at Atlantis. He was sleeping soundly but Jaimee tried to violently wake him. She appeared scared._

_"Daddy." She said. No response._

_"Daddy!" She said a little more earnestly. But still no response._

_"Daddy!" She shrieked, on the verge of tears. He woke up to a little Jaimee crying._

_"What is it, kid?" He looked concerned. He sat up abruptly and took her into his arms. _

_"I had another nightmare. About Danny." _

_The scene changed again._

_Cameron and Jaimee were lying down on his bed fully awake. No blankets were on either of them they were just lying still, talking. Cameron was fully dressed in his BDU's and Jaimee was still in her usual underdressed attire. Each others arms were behind their respective heads, used as pillows and their heads were turned to each other._

_"I'm sorry I put you up to this."_

_"No you're not."_

_"You could do worse." he offered her, a smirk growing on his face._

_"I know." She said nonchalantly._

_" Colonel Jackson is one of the best guys I know. He's lost a lot after all the others. Go easy on him." He turned to look at her briefly._

Jack O'Neill was drawn back to the present. "Wow," he said, exasperated. "that was unreal."

"yeah, I know. I've used them several times to look into Daniel's memories of my mother. They take a lot out of you." She cast her eyes downward.

"But something weird happened with the memories of Cameron."

"As if they were slightly fragmented?" She asked knowingly.

"yeah," said General O'Neill still trying to catch his breath, sliding the stone back to her.

"It is a reliable piece of technology, but unfortunately, they do have flaws. It draws in memories and events that have already happened and records them. But memories are stored in no particular section of the brain which means that the more a person shows up in memories the harder it is for the device to pick up a coherent memory."

"So everything I saw of Cameron..." He trailed off.

"Was accurate, but likely out of place and slightly random." She paused for a moment, fiddling with the stone. "Out of curiosity, what did you see with regards to Cameron?"

"You must have been 17. You were walking around Atlantis, holding hands with him." He stated flatly, pointing in Cameron's general direction. Cameron choked. More 'I'm okay's' trailed out.

"Yeah. I still hold his hand." Everyone around the table looked at Jaimee Jackson for a minute. "He said I wasn't like any other teenager he had ever met. I was always nervous around people if I wasn't holding his hand. What else did you see?" Nodding over to Jacks location.

"You were a little kid. You asked if you could sleep with Cameron for the night because you had a nightmare, about Daniel." Cameron choked again. Some more 'I'm okay's' followed.

"Ah yes. I had a dream that Daniel had died. I woke up screaming." She looked over at Daniel and then to the floor.

"Then you were lying down with Cameron on his bed talking about how Colonel Jackson was a good guy." He emphasized the Colonel part.

Cameron and Daniel both choked. They said I'm okay over and over again then resumed staring at Jaimee, raising their eyebrows and expecting an explanation. "Unlike the Good Doctor in your reality," looking at Daniel for a split second, "Daniel Jackson in my reality actually joined the military. As a matter of fact, he ranks one above my step-father." She announced cheerfully.

"But that would mean..." Cameron began.

"Yes, daddy-dearest, Daniel Jackson is your superior officer."

"There was something else about Daniel." Said Jack unexpectedly.

"What's that? What did you see?" Jaimee asked, somewhat urgently.

"When he got you out from under the computer desk when you were little," everyone gave him quizzical looks, "long story," he quickly added, "there was another women and she wasn't Sarah."

"That would have been Vala. Vala Mal Doran." She said with confidence. "She was Daniel's wife before me."

Everyone burned holes through Daniel's chest. Daniel himself was a little confused at the ordeal and blinked five times fast. "HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN MARRIED?" Yelled Cameron and Jack at the same time, but it was Jaimee who answered in his stead.

"I would be wife number five." She said. "Sha're, Janet Frasier, Sarah and Vala all died. Colonel Jackson is hoping I'd break his curse."

Daniel had dropped the pen that he had been holding in his hand and rubbed his head. "Yeah, I know. Seems to be the trend with you my dear Daniel. Everyone around you seems to die including yourself but you always come back to life, so your poor soul lives to tell the tale." She stated. Her voice was void of sympathy but she felt bad for his sake.

"h-h-how?" he stuttered.

"Sha're was taken host by a goa'uld and Teal'c killed her when she tried to kill you. Janet was next and she died when she was shot by a staff blast during a Jaffa ambush. Then Sarah who I just told you died when the building collapsed on top of her. Vala actually killed herself when she miscarried your baby."

Daniel felt as though he was going to die. Four women, dead. 'please, god if you can hear me, please don't let her die.' He prayed.

"Yes, yes. This is all very interesting, however, what is it you are actually doing here?" asked general Landry.

"I need your help. Daniel, Ry'ac, Cameron and Teal'c are all in danger. They left off-world about a week ago and haven't reported in and I need help finding them."

"Whoa, whoa. Ry'ac is in Atlantis?" Asked Carter suspiciously.

"Was, past tense. He was with us when the building collapsed. He escaped through the portal and went through to Atlantis with me and mom. Why? What does he do here?"

"He is married to Corrin. A warrior of the Hac'tel and does not live on this planet." Answered Teal'c, with a very proud glint in his eye.

"Why not rescue them yourself?" General Landry suggested.

"I'm afraid that isn't possible." Jaimee lifted her baggy sleeve that was long enough to cover her hands. Underneath was a small metal device firmly attached to her arm. "This is a form of tracking device. It has a twin, which Daniel has. It notifies Daniel when I have gone off-world and vice-versa."

"Why would one use such a thing?" Asked Teal'c.

"Daniel and Cameron don't want me to leave Atlantis. With all the dangers in the universe they are both paranoid that I'll die before Daniel does."

"Which means no ascension." Daniel supplied.

"which means no ascension." Jaimee reiterated.

"I'm sorry, but doesn't that seem obsessive?" Asked Carter.

"It is, but then again I can sympathize. The man has lost two children and four wives. That is more pain than anybody should have to endure in his life. He's determined not to lose me." Jaimee absent-mindedly pulled down her sleeve before anyone noticed the abrasions on her wrists and asked why.

"How were you able to determine they were in trouble?" Asked Cameron.

"I felt a pulse from the device that let me know Daniel was attacked. I woke with a start and headed to the embarkation room. It was still nighttime on Atlantis when it happened, which was good because then I could leave before anyone noticed I was gone."

"But I assume that in your reality the embarkation room is well guarded. Even at night." Said O'Neill.

"That would be an accurate assumption, yes."

"Then how were you able to get past the guards?"

Jaimee drew in a deep breath. "Long story short, Master Teal'c trained me well." Teal'c had cocked his head to the side. Everyone gave her puzzled glares. "Look, I have time to kill here, but my family doesn't. I can't leave them behind. And no matter how possessive they are, they will always be my family. I won't leave them to die. If you won't help, I'll request permission to leave and gate to another reality."

General Landry thought about it. "What makes you think we're going to expend the resources of this reality to find people that are your realities responsibility to find?"

"I don't. That's why I asked. Will you help or not?" She challenged.

General Landry let out a long sigh. "Daniel show the guest to her temporary quarters. General O'Neill you are welcome to stay if you can find a room until this is all over, if you like. I'll contact the pentagon. See what they say, in the mean time, you're all dismissed."


	5. Master Teal'c

The walk to Jaimee's quarters was silent. Daniel was still trying to process what had happened. 'four wives, two kids.' He thought.

"Aren't you afraid?" He asked abruptly. He opened the doors to let her in and she sat on the bed with her legs crossed. Daniel stood still by the door but shut it behind him.

"Afraid of what?" She asked looking at something off in the distance.

"Afraid of dying. That seems to be what happens with me, right? All women in my life die, one-by-one." There was an aura of bitterness that escaped his tongue. "Aren't you afraid?" He asked again.

"If the grand cosmos of the multiverse doesn't want us together, then we'll get ripped apart one way or another and you or I will be left to start anew. One day, Daniel Jackson, one day, you will be happy. if not with me, then with another." She had a faint smile on her face and it warmed Daniel's aching heart.

"Wouldn't it hurt you?" He asked.

Shaking her head with the faintest of smiles tainting her lips, she walked closer to him. Not as a lover, but as a consoling friend. "Both Cameron and Daniel seem to believe that I am still too young to comprehend what love is exactly in its entirety. I believe they both refer to it as a schoolgirl crush. Something that will wear off in time."

"I am sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Her lopsided grin was beginning to look a lot like Jack O'Neill's.

"Forcing you to marry me."

"You forced me into no such thing. You are trying to recompense for past mistakes, no one can really blame you for that."

"You don't mind being attached to me your whole life?" he asked honestly.

"To be honest, Dr Jackson, my marriage to Colonel Jackson is just marriage by name. I still sit with Cameron and talk with him and some nights star gaze. You heard O'Neill in there, I still hold Cameron's hand in public and lie down on the floor with him."

"Then why marry me at all?"

"For a chance at being reunited with my parents." Daniels eyes began to look like flowers that were beginning to wilt. She looked at the ground and felt very much like a child. "Although, that wasn't my idea. It was Cameron's and Colonel Jacksons." Daniel's shadow loomed over her and suddenly, she felt very small. Until now, she hadn't noticed how tall he was, she wouldn't look at him in the eyes because she feared that she may do something that she'd regret. She wished the floor would swallow her whole.

Then Teal'c burst in.

Jaimee and Daniel repelled each other like magnets when they heard someone walk in.

"General O'Neill has told me of what you saw of me when using the stone. I wish to know what you have learnt." When Teal'c began talking, Daniel hurried out of the room and made a scurry for the gym.

"Master Teal'c, Do you mean to fight me?"

"Indeed."

"I want a fight also. Where should we spar, in here?"

"No, perhaps the gym."

"Lead the way!"

Teal'c did an about face and walked down the hallways very slowly. Everyone moved out of the way of the Jaffa and the girl that followed him. Air men that Jaimee didn't recognized were scurried about doing their own thing. In the corner of her eye she saw that Daniel had already gotten there. He had kick boxing gloves on and sweat dripping off his face. Jaimee took a moment to stare at Daniel and his sparring partner, Jack O'Neill.

Teal'c took her to an area reserved for Jaffa training. He handed her a wooden staff weapon. She took a firm grasp of it and bowed Jaffa style. Teal'c did nothing. He was the master after all.

They stood on opposite ends of the mat, with the weapons to their side, and suddenly everyone dropped what they were doing. Daniel had been ready to hit Jack, but since being distracted, Jack took advantage of him and he fell to the floor with a solid thump. Jack took off his gloves and sat down to watch, wiping the sweat that had covered his brow.

Jaimee and Teal'c were getting ready for a fight and everyone knew it.

"Begin!" Yelled Teal'c.


	6. Fight

Teal'c and Jaimee circled each other, when Teal'c was the first to strike. Jack flinched, but knew better then to interfere. Daniel stared after her, when Cameron had walked in carrying a basketball, also drenched in sweat.

Jaimee fell to the floor but stood as quickly as she had fallen. She fought back. She hit him in the face with her pseudo-staff weapon, but Teal'c didn't even grimace. Her strike had barely left a bruise. Teal'c swung the weapon around himself to ensure that she would get hit. She felt every blow, but at every blow she became more agile. She attempted to hit his feet, but he jumped so she struck her weapon into his chest. Teal'c had intended to hit her on the head but the sticks made a crashing sound as she blocked his attack. She got up from off her knees. She attempted to push him back, but he was at least three times stronger. Her lames leg, finally gave out and her good one followed and she dropped to the floor in exhaustion, with the blast end of the wooden weapon pointed in her face.

"I've lost again, to an old man." She huffed and coughed.

"You may yet beat me Jaimee Jackson."

Jaimee shook her head. "I didn't even leave a dent."

"But you have been trained well."

"Yeah, by you."

"If you do not believe that you will ever beat me, Jaimee Jackson, then you most certainly won't."

Teal'c left his staff weapon by its holding cell and left the room. Jaimee was still on her knees. She got up and noticed everyone staring at her.

"What?!" she yelled. "I may not be able to beat a Jaffa but I can take any one of you any day! Including you Daniel Jackson!" Daniel grimaced.

Teal'c was drying himself with a towel when he walked in again to see what all the commotion was about. He immediately noticed that Jaimee was in an outrage. He took her by the hand and through her back down onto the ground. No empathy was evident on his face.

"You will respect those for whom you claim to share affection for. And you will never threaten my friends again Jaimee Jackson, or I will show how we dispose of people such as yourself on Chulak." Teal'c spat at her feet. "Be gone, women, and don't come back until you are sorry for what you have done."

Jaimee left the room, with her head to the ground. The personnel left in the gymnasium opened an isle for her to follow out, but once she left, she made a beeline for her quarters. Her limp leg was searing. She knew she needed to get to the infirmary for some pretty strong painkillers. She was stinky and smelly but she didn't care.

She cried her eyes out and no one was there to watch.


	7. A vain ambition

"Hey T, weren't you being a little tough on her?"

"Indeed."

Jack, Cameron, Teal'c, Carter and Daniel all gathered in Sam's lab to discuss what happened with Jaimee in the Gym.

"Then why did you do it?"

"Because she is unusually Jaffa for a human child. Thus she should be disciplined as such, General O'Neill."

"You've known her all of, what? a day?"

"I don't know General, those moves were pretty Sodan looking to me. She was pretty good, despite the limp. If I'm her step-dad and practically raised her then I probably taught her a thing or two."

"You tried to teach me a thing or two." She appeared by Carter's lab door. "Can I come in?" She asked to no one in particular. No one could think of any reason why she should not come in, so Sam let out a weak, "Yeah, sure."

Jaimee walked in, but she wore a jump suit instead of what she was wearing before. Everyone in the room could tell that she felt uncomfortable. It was obvious that she felt exposed. She had taken a shower and her hair was wet and dripping. It occurred to Cameron that she didn't care. "The Cameron in my reality did try to teach me self defence the Jaffa way, but it never worked out because every time Cameron hit me, it was like he was hitting himself harder still. But he believed it was important for me to learn in case I was ever attacked. So he gave Teal'c stewardship over my training."

She walked over to Teal'c and knelt on the ground. She placed her hands on the floor in the shape of a triangle. She put her head to the triangle and muttered an apology. "I am sorry for my behaviour, Master. It won't happen again."

Teal'c grasped her by the arm and lifted her up. He looked deep into her eyes and all he saw was sincerity. "I can see that you are angry and frustrated, but there is no weakness in you."

"Yet, I cannot beat you."

"Is beating me the only goal you have in this life, Jaimee Jackson?" When she didn't respond he lifted her up somewhat and averted her eyes to the massive Jaffa. "Speak!" he yelled. Jaimee jumped but still found courage to answer.

"What else is there, master?"

"There is Daniel Jackson." He said calmly, but no less firm. "You know it not, yet Jaimee Jackson, but I see that you love him." Jaimee flinched and Daniel looked to the ground, wishing it would eat him.

"Teal'c..." Daniel began, but was cut off from Jaimee's yelling.

"If the general told you what he saw from my memories, he would have told you that Cameron forced me into marrying him!" Daniel blinked, Cameron choked.

"Is it true that you would not have consented had you felt nothing, Jaimee Jackson." It was more of a statement then a question. "If your only ambition in life is to beat me, then your ambition is vain."

Tears remained locked in her eyes and Teal'c held her close to his chest. Her eyes wondered but Teal'c yelled again. "Look at me!"

"Master, I am confused and I don't know but please, let me go." She was frightened, and Teal'c could sense it. He bowed his head and they finally let each other go.


	8. Dream of better days

"If I may Master Teal'c, would you mind if I left now?"

"For what reason?" Teal'c asked.

"Actually, we don't want you to go, not yet." Daniel said.

"We have a few questions." Cameron finished.

"I may have a few answers." Everyone in the room darted between the General and the girl now sitting on a spare stool in Carters lab. Honestly, her mood swings were giving everyone whiplash. Not unlike someone else they knew.

"Who reverse engineered the stones you showed to General O'Neill? And how did you bypass the Iris on the Gate?" Carter was down to business as always.

Cameron looked disheveled. "I forgot that your weren't there when she walked in." Cameron drew out of his pocket a small device that looked ancient. "Its Ancient, it seems to allow her to walk through solid matter."

"Cameron is right. It does allow me to walk through solid matter and it is ancient. As a matter of fact, Daniel Jackson helped me reverse engineer the stones and the perambula solidum."

SG1's eyes turned to Daniel "Means walk through solid in Latin. Did you just say I helped you reverse-engineer something?" Daniel went wide-eyed.

"Yeah, I seemed to have inherited my mother's brain." She knocked on the top of her head and smiled awkwardly. "After my mother died, Daniel dedicated himself to reading her entire library. He believed that learning what she knew, was the best way to honour her legacy. So he is now almost as good at astrophysics as he is in archeology. But he's taught me most of what he learnt. I am not as good as he is, but I am mighty close." She winked at Daniel.

"Sounds like something you would do." Cameron remarked, Daniel nodded his head frantically.

"What do you do in Atlantis?" Jack asked.

"For a short time I was on SGA1 or Stargate Atlantis One, until I married Daniel. He essentially requested that I be kicked off the team out of fear that I might die before he does. Now, I'm his research assistant. If he needs help with reverse engineering anything or finding something to do with some ancient culture, I'm there." She shrugged. She does that often, Cameron noticed.

"Why did I force you into marrying Daniel?" It was Cameron's turn.

"You thought it was my best chance of being reunited with my blood relatives. Although it's almost ironic that you made me marry him, in a way." She looked at the ceiling as though it had all the answers written on it.

"In what way?" Jack asked, pointing out the obvious.

"well, your first name is Jack, Daniel's last name is Jackson," she paused and raised an eyebrow, "or rather our last name is Jackson, I s'pose." realising that she was going off on a tangent and that she had lost them, she shrugged. "Point is, Jackson literally means son of Jack. And Daniel is Jack's son in law." When everyone realised what Jaimee was implying, they cracked up laughing. "You seriously can't tell me that you never thought about this!"

"Not like that, no." Carter was wiping a tear from her eye and even the normally stoic Jaffa had a bemused expression on his face. Jack slapped Daniel on the back.

"Well how 'bout that, now. He's my son!" Daniel cringed.

"Is that a blessing or a curse?" The laughter resumed.

In throwing her head back and laughing along with the rest of them, a necklace around Jaimee's neck suddenly peeked out from behind the collar of her shirt. She hadn't noticed. But Daniel did. He crept up towards her and placed two hands on her shoulders. She looked into his deep blue eyes immediately sobered her up. She looked down at him and felt very small again. He got down on his knees and reached for the collar of her shirt and peeled it back to reveal the necklace he saw.

"Colonel Jackson comes into my room every evening and morning to put it on me. I asked him what it meant once, but he only said that I wasn't old enough to know."

Daniel was still on his knees. From his pockets of his fatigues he brought out an exact replica of the necklace Jaimee was wearing around her neck. All eyes drifted to the shiny object glittering in Daniel's hand.

"When he puts it on me, he says 'Sleep m' dear and dream of better days.' The same thing he said to my mother, a few days before she died. I asked him about that, too. But he said I was still too young to know."

"I agree. You are young." Snapping out of his reverie, he got up out of his knees. "Look, I don't know who I am in your reality, and I know that you think I wanted to marry you for Sam and Jack's sake, but in all honesty, I don't think I would have given something to you so precious to me, if I didn't love you."

"What does it mean?" She asked earnestly.

"Your too young!"

"Ah! Everyone, keeps saying that! Stop saying that I am not some little kid!" She sulked off to return to her quarters.

"A bit emotional, isn't she?" Asked Jack turning to Carter.

"She's 18, Sir."

"Good point."


	9. Necklace

Jaimee ran to her quarters again with glazed over eyes and what felt like a dagger sticking out of her side. She didn't cry. She was taught to be like a Jaffa, but she was wondering how long she could keep it up before the angry tears would just come spilling out of her eyes.

Jaimee heard a knock on her door and quickly composed herself. "Come in," She said.

Daniel was the one who appeared by the door. "Oh," she said, "I'm sorry for the outburst earlier, Doctor Jackson. Can I do something for you?"

He closed the door behind him and walked up to her and took her face in his hands. Her breathing grew unsteady and she looked at the floor.

"Does the age difference bother you?" He asked unexpectedly.

She shook her head as much as she could with two strong hands covering either side of her face. Daniel Jackson was a nerd, but also in possession of a strong military mind and body. General O'Neill was having a bad influence on him, she thought with a smile. "Colonel Jackson said that my parents are about as far apart in age as you and I are. I s'pose a thing for older men runs in the family." She looked awkwardly at the floor, wondering if she had said too much.

"Good. c-c-c-cuz I'm going to kiss you right now." Only Daniel could say something like that at a moment like this, and not ruin it. In less than mere seconds, her lips were pressed up against his. She felt guilty because she loved it. He began feeling guilty because he loved it too. His hand got the back of her hair and he threw her up against a wall. Pain shot down her leg from the force of being thrown against the wall, but Jaimee felt Daniel pressed up against her and the pain began to dissipate. She realised that there was too much raw emotion and she needed to back away. She broke off the kiss.

"Stop." Then she ducked under his arm and walked straight into the centre of the room.

"Something wrong?"

"Your kiss..." she paused and took a deep breath. "It's too..." She shook her head, "Please, tell me. What does 'Sleep m' dear and dream of better days' mean?"

Daniel sat down on a nearby seat by the door, events of the past few minutes seemingly un-phasing him. He sank back in thought. He removed his glasses carefully and rubbed his eyes, before finally deciding to stand up. He moved towards her and put his two arms around her. He spun her around and looked deeply into her brown orbs. He wanted so badly to kiss her again.

"It was something I said to Sha're when we lived on Abydos. When she had nightmares."

"Were they about you dying?" She asked, weakly.

"No," taking his hands in hers, he added, "They were about Ra, taking over Abydos again. It was a reminder to her about dreaming of days when things were simpler when reality got rough." His blue orbs, bore into her brown ones. He leaned in for another kiss but she stood still.

That's when they heard the knock on the door. Daniel dropped his arms from her and took a step back. "Come in." Daniel wasn't surprised to hear Jacks voice on the other side of the door.

"We have orders. The mission is a go." He paused, noticing the tension in the room. In the General's hands were Jaimee's clothes, cleaned from sweat and residue. "These are your clothes, Jaimee. I suggest you change quickly."

"Thanks, General." Taking the clothes from him.

Daniel just stood absent-mindedly and looked at Jaimee. "C'mon Daniel. Let's go." Jack tapped on Daniel's shoulder and then they both turned and silently exited the room.


	10. Good to Go

When Jaimee had gotten dressed into her normal clothes she exited the room and made her way into the Control Room. The rest of SG1 and the General were already there.

"Colonel Carter, the Daedalus is en route and will be ready to beam you and the rest of SG1 on board in a few minutes."

"Yes, Sir."

"You'll have all the resources already on board at your disposal. Except the crew, they are going to be beamed back to base, in the event that this mission fails. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Jack?"

"Sir."

"What do you think our chances of success are here?"

"Well, if its anything I know about Carter and her brains is that she's... brainy. With two eggheads working on it, our chances of success are markedly good." Carter gave him a crooked smile.

"You ready Colonel Carter, Colonel Mitchell?"

"Good to go, Sir."

"General?"

"Sir?"

"The President has given you permission to go with them on account of an ancient gene and that you won't suffer cascade failure. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir." he turned to his former teammates, "To Oz." He said.

"Godspeed." Smiled the General.

And in an instant, SG1, Jaimee Jackson, and General O'Neill were replaced by the crew aboard the Daedalus.


	11. Cargo bay three, sir

"So, Carter?"

Carter just sighed. "Sir?"

"How exactly do you plan on carrying this mission out?"

"A few months ago sir, we had an influx of SG teams gate to the SGC from alternate realities. With the help of an Asgard device we were able to send the SG teams back to their home worlds. My best plan is to contact the Asgard and then create a black hole and gate to the planet that the alternate Daniel, Teal'c, Ry'ac and Cameron are being held hostage."

"Have you sent out a signal?"

"Yes, sir. But it might take a while."

"Get comfortable?"

"That would be my recommendation, yes, sir."

"Good."

Carter took one glance around the room and realised that the General and Carter were the only two in the Control Room. Teal'c, Daniel, Cameron and Jaimee had been beamed someplace else. The General didn't care.

"Carter?"

"Sir?"

"I'm hungry."

"Cargo bay three, Sir." She said nonchalantly.

The General made his way through the Daedalus to Cargo bay three, where the food was, when he spotted Cameron, Teal'c and Daniel already there. None of them were eating, but each were sitting on their own upturned shipping crates, talking about Jaimee. The General hid himself and listened in to their conversation. He couldn't help it. That was his daughter. In weird, inter-universal, parallel something or rather way, he thought.

"What do you think of all this?" The General remained hidden from plain sight but he could tell it was Cameron's voice. The slight southern drawl gave it away. "I mean the General's and Sam's kid?"

"Jaimee Jackson seems to have, indeed, inherited Colonel Carter's intellect and General O'Neill's talent for sarcasm and careless appearance." Teal'c stated in his oh-so-very stoic manner. The General couldn't help but smile. 'That's my girl.' He thought, a firm smile plastered across his face.

"She's my wife." Daniel stated flatly. That made the General want to punch his best friends face in. "Why would I marry someone so young?"

"Should not age be immaterial in matters of the heart, Daniel Jackson?"

"Yeah, I mean look at the General," O'Neill's ears perked up at the mention of his rank, "I mean, I know about the regs better than anyone here, but you can't tell there is some serious chemistry between him and Sam."

"Sam is a grown women. Jaimee is still just a kid." Daniel remarked.

"Is not 18 the age of adulthood in your society, Daniel Jackson?"

"Technically, yes. But 'kid' doesn't necessarily mean 'child'. It can imply many different things including a person of a young age who still has a lot to learn." Daniel was in some sort of trance, thinking.

"What? You think Jaimee is still too young to learn what it's all about, Jackson?" Cameron asked.

"Yes, I do."

"Well, off topic here, but don't you think the other you, Colonel Jackson loves her? I mean, you said so yourself, you wouldn't have given her the necklace if you didn't love her."

Daniel thought for a minute. "I must have." Cameron and Teal'c both just looked at Daniel as he stared at the ground, both wanting for a better explanation.

"Daniel, you seem a little spooked. Is there something I should know?"

Daniel rubbed his face, leaned back and clapped his hands over his head that mimicked Jack O'Neill almost exactly. It amazed Teal'c how much the two men had become so much alike in working together.

"I kissed her."


	12. Missing

Jaimee was hidden in a corner listening in on the conversation, close to the other entrance on the other side of the Cargo bay, opposite Jack. She tried to get up and run away, but her bad leg brought her to the floor and Teal'c heard her. He had caught a hold of her arm. She struggled against him, but he had a firm hold on her anyway. At the same time, Jack jumped out of his hiding place.

"You kissed Jaimee?" He yelled. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't." Daniel had no amount of remorse in his voice. Trust Daniel to tell the truth.

Teal'c had Jaimee by her upper arm and she looked abashedly at the ground and her face had turned a deep shade of scarlet. "Nor was I." Then she saw that her feet were not actually touching the ground but hovering slightly above it. Jaimee's face was sort of scrunched up in pain. Her leg was giving her some grief. "I'm sorry." She attempted to shrug Teal'c's hold of her, but to no avail.

"Why did you kiss him?" It was Cameron's turn to talk.

She turned an even deeper shade of scarlet and looked away from everyone and everything in the room. She stole one glance at Daniel, but that only made her go redder still.

"I don't want to talk about it!"

Teal'c was angry. "Did I not teach you to face your fears, Jaimee Jackson?" He turned her around to face him. He gripped her oversized sweatshirt with both of his hands. She was scared. "What is wrong with you women?" Teal'c has relaxed his grip on her, "Why are you afraid?"

"I don't want to talk about it!" She repeated. She ran steer clear of everyone else. The boys heads were spinning before they even knew what was happening.

"Daniel, I think you scared her." Sam's voice came from an alcove. "Thor responded. He said he'd be here very soon. But we need to find Jaimee."

"Carter?" Asked O'Neill, the overwhelming feeling of shooting his friend having fled the scene. Almost literally.

"Jaimee said that she feels a pulse of sorts whenever she gets close to the Daniel in her reality. We can amplify the pulse and use it in conjunction with the Asgard multiverse device to locate her reality." Sam looked at her watch. "Cameron I suggest you try to look for her."

"Why me?"

"Because Thor will be here in the hour and she trusts you more then she trusts the rest of us. She's more likely to co-operate with you."

"Right." Cameron took off in the direction Jaimee ran.


	13. The look of your Father

Jaimee thought herself as a coward. She always did and no matter how much Teal'c tried to train it out of her, she convinced herself that she always would be. Even now, she can hear the faint echo's of her Teal'c's voice in her head.

_"No strength will come from running, Jaimee Jackson." Jaimee fell to the floor. She was scared and alone and she didn't feel as though she could talk to anyone. "Your mother was as strong as she was beautiful. She would want you to become the warrior she knows you can train to become."_

_"I know, I'm just so scared."_

_"You need to conquer that fear."_

_"Then I will be a disappointment."_

Jaimee was broken out of her reverie by a call coming from outside the room. It was Cameron. She was desperately hoping that he wouldn't find her. But the gym was exactly where Cameron would have gone, so of course that was the place that he would look first. 'I am my father's daughter,' She smiled. Jaimee ran behind one of the display cases of weights, in a futile attempt to hide.

Cameron came in and saw her anyway.

"C'mon Jaimee, you know I won't hurt you." He cooed.

She peeked out from behind the display case and looked up at him with big eyes. He meandered to the centre of the Gym and then he dropped to the floor, gracefully. As he laid down, he crossed his legs at the ankles and closed his eye. He propped his head up using his arms to as his pillow.

"This is my favourite gym in the whole ship. Know why?" He asked her, eyes still closed.

Jaimee came out of hiding and the minute he heard a shift in movement, he opened his eyes. She nodded her head in a jerky sort of way that made Cameron wince a little bit. "This gym has the window that looks out into space on the rooftop. It makes you feel free."

"I guess the me's from reality to reality don't change much."

She smiled thoughtfully at the man lying on the ground in front of her. "No, actually. Now that I think about it, you don't." Jaimee laughed nervously and put her hand to her mouth as if she had something she shouldn't have.

"You've met other me's?" He asked incredulously.

"Have you not?" She asked back.

He turned his head to the ceiling and closed his eyes again. "You got me there."

Jaimee just nodded her head in agreement. She limped towards the lying down Cameron who had felt her presence above him. 'I s'pose carter was right. Again. She's beginning to ease up' He thought. He opened one eye, to reveal a curious girl. She looked at him expectantly. He patted the ground next to him and she smiled. She dropped her knees to the ground, rather painfully, and lay beside him, mimicking his posture almost exactly.

"Back on Atlantis," He looked at her with question in his eyes. "Me and Cam would stay up late and stare at the stars and talk. When I got scared, and felt like the Universe was going to swallow me whole, he said to take solace in the fact that no matter if we're home or in another galaxy, we'd always be looking at the same stars."

"Sounds like a smart guy."

"Was that a compliment to yourself?" She asked half-sarcastically.

"What's your point?"

"I don't have one."

"Exactly." Cameron smiled, and Jaimee shook her head.

"Sometimes he and I would just lie down next to each other. And when things get really bad, I just kind of put my head on his shoulder and we fell asleep. Just like as if he was my real dad."

"Do you call him dad?"

"Yes, I do. Cameron has had me call him Dad since I was a little girl because he loves me like a daughter and I love him like a dad." Cameron had hoped that if he had a child, he or she would turn out like Jaimee. Jaimee was sweet, if not painfully shy and in no hurry to grow up. She was a charming girl, even if she wears oversized clothes. He smiled at her.

"I do love you." Cameron blurted.

"I love you, too." She said somewhat shyly.

"But?" Cameron prompted.

"I just wish everyone else did."

"What do you mean?" He whispered, surprised.

She propped herself up on her elbow and fell on Cameron's chest. She listened to his heart beat and instantly it calmed her own rapid heart. Cameron removed both his hands from behind his head and gently cradled her. "Sometimes I wish that if I looked more like my Mom then my Dad, I would have my Daniel wrapped around my finger, just like my Mom did." Jaimee was on the verge of tears.

"What? You think Daniel loves Sam?"

"Jack, You, Daniel and Teal'c." Jaimee nodded her head. "It's like she has the lot of you under a spell. I don't have that because I am not pretty. I feel ugly."

"Is that why you wear clothing that you drown in?" She began crying against his sternum. "You don't dress like an average teenage girl Jaimee. It's like you're using your clothes as a smokescreen and I can't figure out why because you are the prettiest thing I have ever seen."

Jaimee shook her head. "I just wish that I looked like my mother."

"Your jealous?"

"Ridiculous, I know. It's not every day you meet a girl whose jealous of her mother's boyfriends."

Cameron kissed the top of her head. "Well, Just because you have the look of your father doesn't mean you aren't pretty like your mother."

Jaimee was sobbing by this point. "I wish Daniel loved me. The only thing he says to me is Sleep, m' dear and dream of better days."

"Hey, He said he wouldn't give you that necklace if he didn't love you. He said as much," He lifted her chin so he now could see her eyes. "And I am sure that he wouldn't say anything to you if he didn't care." Cameron had one leg perched up with his knee bent, and held her tightly. "Hey kiddo," He said to her hair, "I hate to ruin this but..."

"But you need me by the bridge."

"Yeah." Cameron said, guiltily. Cameron was the first to stand up and offered his hand to pull her up. "C'mon lets go." Still with her hand in his, they ran to the bridge and left the empty room.


	14. Warrented

Cameron and Jaimee ran to the bridge, still holding hands. When they arrived, everyone was looking at them, then they turned to each other and glanced at her intertwining hands. They looked back at the others.

"Long story." They said in unison. For whatever reason, Daniel felt a prang of jealousy. 'What am I thinking?', he thought. 'Jealous of her father.' He smiled to himself. He wanted that to be him.

It wasn't long before the pair noticed an odd looking device that Carter was holding in her hands and an Asgard was standing between her and General O'Neill.

"Greetings, human."

"Ah, Hi." Jaimee said reverting back to her nervous self. 'Yup, still whiplash.' Cameron thought.

"Ah, Jaimee, this is Thor. The multiverse device is going to help us find which reality you're from using the tracking device on your arm, which connects to Daniel."

"You intend to amplify the feeling by interfacing the device with the Multiverse to find where Colonel Jackson is located."

Carter was taken aback. "Actually, yeah." She turned briefly to look at the General who just shrugged again.

"She's your daughter."

"Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

Carter smiled. "Yours too, apparently."

"Apparently." He smiled back.

"I must warn you Jaimee Jackson, amplifying human emotions will over stimulate the sympathetic nervous system which could result in excruciating discomfort of the dendrites in the brain."

Jaimee was lifting up her sleeve to show them the tracking device and the abrasions on her wrist. "Warranted Pain." She stated flatly.

Everyone gave her confused looks, except Cameron, who gave her a look of understanding."Warranted Pain is something my grandma told me."

"And something Cameron told me." Jaimee interjected.

"She believed that some things were worth the pain that one would suffer-"

"-at the hands of the enemy." They both said in unison.

Jaimee turned to Thor, "Lets rock-n-roll."


	15. Multiverse

The pain that Jaimee had to go through was enormous. She never cried, but the worried looks she received from her family, gave her the courage she needed to continue. Cameron looked like he was going to kill Thor. Thor looked like he was going to kill himself.

"Should we stop, Jaimee Jackson?"

Jaimee had globules of sweat dripping off her face. Her glasses dropped to the floor and she was cringing. Her entire body ached. She had long ago taken off her scarf and sweatshirt, which was very abnormal for her. Usually she stayed covered. Like being wrapped in a blanket, but her winter boots were still on her feet. Under her sweatshirt, she had an ordinary t-shirt but had a black undershirt under that. She was well overdressed.

"No!" She yelled. "I have to find Daniel!" She was screaming by this point. Everyone in the room covered their ears at her screams except for Teal'c and Thor. The Multiverse device was blinking shades of blue, red and yellow, a physical representation of the many different realities. "Daniel!" She screamed again.

"Shut that thing off, now!" General O'Neill yelled, pointing furiously at the advanced piece of technology.

"No! I've got him!" The multiverse device locked on an aquamarine colour. The pain stopped.

"Colonel Carter, you can now interface the Multiverse device with the Stargate network after creating a black hole. Then it will take you to that reality."

"Yes, Thor. Thank you."

"You are welcome. Goodbye." And Thor beamed out of sight.


	16. Black holes and General O'Neill

"Sir?"

"Carter?"

"I need your help."

"With what?" The General said a little more forcefully then what he had intended. He rubbed his head. "With what, colonel?" He said a little more gently.

"Sir, I'm no pilot. I can't fly this Ship, but I need to get it out of earth's orbit in order to create a Black hole. We can't risk getting earth sucked in."

O'Neill was irritated by the cryptic messages. "You want me to fly?"

Carters lips tightened into a thin line and simply nodded her head. But that wasn't good enough for the General.

"I need a verbal response, Carter." His teeth were on edge.

"Yes, sir. I need you to pilot the ship. But not yet. I have to make the calibrations to jump into hyperspace."

"I thought that while the ship was in hyperspace, it goes into autopilot mode." Carter glared at Cameron that meant, stop while your ahead and he shrank.

"Cam, I need you to take her to the infirmary." She said, pointing to Jaimee writhing on the floor in pain.

"I don't need to be prodded with more needles." Jaimee had already put her jacket back on and had begun to wrap her scarf around her neck.

"Standard procedure." Sam muttered. "The two of you," indicating to Teal'c and Daniel, "should probably go with them. We have no way of knowing how much damage that amount of electrical charge has done to her."

All three men bowed their heads in acknowledgement. Cameron took the girl by her arm. He could tell that she was fully conscious, but sweat was still dripping off her face and she was barely on her feet. Her limp had gotten worse. All men left the room, except General O'Neill.

Carter walked over to the star map and got her calculator out, refusing to look at the General. Jack broke the silence.

"Something wrong, Carter?" He asked walking over to her.

"No, sir."

"Carter?"

"Nothing, sir."

"Carter?" He asked again. Then she realised how close they were to each other. She could feel his breath on her skin and smell his scent. She took a step back from him and covered her mouth and nose. His scent was too intoxicating for her. Like a drug, or a black hole, sucking her otherwise lifeless soul into his.

"Carter?" He looked concerned.

"Nothing is wrong, Sir. I'm fine." She looked back to her work and the General slowly backed away. When he turned to leave her, she looked back at the star map and gripped her stomach. It hurt and she felt like she was going to puke.

"Sir, I need to leave to walk. I have the calibrations ready, you only need to input them into the console."

"Carter?" He asked for the thousandth time.

"I'm fine sir."

And with that, Carter ran out of the Control Room and headed for the bathroom at a brisk walk at first so as to not alert the General, but then broke out into a run.

When she opened the door, she really did puke. She piled water into her mouth to dull the awful smell. "What's happening to me?" She asked out loud.


	17. Beyond Human

General O'Neill was on the other side of the door. Listening. He knocked.

"Carter?"

'Oh, crap.' She thought. She let out a raspy "I'm fine sir."

He jumped back at the harshness of her voice. "Like hell you are, Colonel. I'm coming in. Are you okay?"

Jack rolled his eyes and took her silence as an affirmation and opened the door to find a very detached and pale looking Sam. "Carter?"

"I'm fine, Sir." She coughed.

The General shook his head at her typicality. "Carter I can never really wrap my head around you."

"Sir?"

"You can be writhing in pain, coughing or have a fever of 102 and still claim that there is nothing wrong with you." The general shook his head. Carter laughed but it was a disgruntled noise that made the General's insides churn.

"I don't have a fever of 102, Sir." She coughed again. The General held his index finger to say, wait a minute. Then he got thermometer out of one of the cabinets and stuck it in Carter's mouth. Her breathing became irregular because of his closeness. She huddled by the bathtub and he crouched down. He took the reading and showed it to her.

"101." She read out loud.

"So really, what's the matter?" He asked casting it aside.

Carter rolled her head to the side to get a better look at him. "Sir, when you walked up to me, I felt like I was being dragged through a black hole or drowning. I couldn't breathe."

"Carter?" He asked again.

"I'm sorry sir. I can't explain it. But..."

"Carter shut up and listen to me for a second."

In her current state, she was still the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on, as she let out a "Yes, Sir."

"I felt the same way. Although, I wasn't getting sick for it. I don't know why you are."

"Sir?" Now it was her turn to ask questions in the form of monosyllabic names.

"Like a black hole being sucked in, Carter."

"Sir you don't think it's the same feeling that's amplified by the device that Jaimee and Daniel use, do you?"

"Not quite the words I would use, but yes."

"Sir, this isn't human. Human feelings don't work that way."

"Actually they do."


	18. Star Crossed Lovers

It was Jaimee's voice coming from the door way.

"You should be in the infirmary." Jack stated flatly.

"You should tell that to her." She nodded in the direction of her mother.

"I have a story to tell; one that my Daniel told me when I was a little girl. But she needs to rest. You take her to her quarters or the infirmary. Me and the boys are in the control room."

General O'Neill picked the Colonel up and took her to the infirmary.

When he returned everyone seemed to be scattered about the room. Cameron was standing closest to Jaimee by the flight control console. Teal'c was standing by the star map and Daniel was awkwardly leaning against the wall of the entrance to the place.

"So, what's this all about? why is Carter sick?"

"Sam's sick?" Cam asked.

"Yeah."

Everyone in the room turned to the girl who was now trying to gather her thoughts. She scratched her head in agitation, and limped a little closer to Cameron. She was in severe pain.

"All of you know the meaning of star-crossed lovers, don't you?" She asked to everyone but looked at Daniel.

"The whole Romeo and Juliet thing? Yeah, of course."

"Yes, like that, but the idea didn't originate from William Shakespeare. It came from-"

"The Greeks." Everyone looked at Daniel. "The story of Artemis and Orion. Of course the term wasn't coined until later. But that's where the idea came from." As if it was obvious.

"Yes. According to Greek mythology, Artemis was the goddess of the moon, hunter and protector and also the twin sister to Apollo, the Greek sun god. She vowed to Zeus, her father, that she would never marry or fall in love. But then one day, she found a hunter. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, and in due course, fell in love with him.

"Apollo, in order to protect his sister, essentially killed Orion, and but hung him in the sky so that every night, Artemis could look up and see him. It was the one mercy granted by Apollo to his sister, but she was always broken hearted over it. She realised that they would always be apart. A happily ever after wasn't written in their forte, so to speak."

"That's all good and dandy, but what's this got to do with Sam and General O'Neill?" Cameron asked.

"What Colonel Jackson didn't tell me until I got older was that the myth is real. Or well, it's kind of like a cover story."

"A cover story?" Cameron asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Artemis and Apollo were actually Tok'ra who lived on earth. Their hosts were twins. It's true that they both claimed to be gods, but only because they established themselves as lords under the service of-"

"Zeus." Daniel interjected again.

"Yes. A system lord that we have not had the pleasure of meeting because He died when the rebellion in ancient Egypt against Ra started. Orion, was a human who fell in love with Artemis and in the early stages of the rebellion in Greece, He was the leader.

"Eventually he found out about who Artemis and Apollo really were and wanted to become a Tok'ra himself, unfortunately, that all took place prior to the killing of Zeus. Zeus found out about what Orion and his followers were planning and tried to kill him. But Apollo smuggled Orion into a cargo ship and left, for another planet, 'among the stars' I think is how Daniel put it." She finished.

"Okay, cool story. But again, what's that got to do with Carter?"

"Artemis and Apollo were not only hosts to Tok'ra symbiotes, but were also Ancients. They're our direct ancestors." Pointing to herself and O'Neill.

Everyone in the room gasped. "We know that the Ancients had powers beyond our comprehension. But one was what they called, or rather what Daniel translated to be, 'Stella de amour' or love of stars. It doesn't actually mean love of stars per se, but rather in reference to the Star-Crossed lovers. Which is what the ancients used to describe the gravitational effect that two advanced humans had on each other when they were predestined to be lovers. Being apart can have some dire consequences. Hence why my mother died of heartache and why the ascended will allow married couples to ascend together."

"General O'Neill and Sam are advanced humans?" Daniel had raised eyebrows.

"How do you know so much about this 'Stella de amour' stuff?" It was General O'Neill this time, ever the skeptic.

"To answer your question Doctor Jackson, yes. I think that Sam is suffering of pain, because that's what usually happens to the less advanced human." Turning to Jack she said " To answer your question, Sir, it's because it's the same kind of bond that some people think I share with Colonel Daniel Jackson." Everyone's heads turned to him. but his eyes grew.

"I don't have the ancient gene." He stated.

"Having the ancient gene gives a person a head start, but that isn't the only way to progress." Taking a deep breath she continued. "The connection that I share with Colonel Jackson is still in its infancy, if it exists at all. As far as I know, 'Stella de amour' doesn't actually kick in, until the brain has fully developed which is somewhere between 21 and 24 years of age."

"So if there is any connection between me and you, won't fully exist until-"

"until I am somewhere between 21 and 24 years old. Still got at least three years to go." Jaimee said shrugging her shoulders. "People on Atlantis think I have the connection with Daniel Jackson because I am already starting to feel some effects of it." She held up her wrists for observation. "Time away from the other can lead to insanity. Literally. I began cutting myself and this limp," she said pointing to her leg that had caused her so much trouble over the years, "isn't natural, or caused by natural means. I got this because the interior of my body has artificially aged, because the molecules are beginning to deteriorate. Having my whole body wracked with voltage probably didn't help either."

"How come I don't feel this connection?" Asked Daniel, showing some genuine concern.

"You don't feel the connection between you and I, because I am not the me that your molecules will bind with."

"You keep talking about science and emotion. I thought the two were mutually exclusive." Cameron intervened.

"No. In fact, that's quite the opposite. This is a connection that operates on the sub-atomic level."

"That's great. So why is Carter sick and not me?" The General asked with real sincerity in his voice.

"You aren't sick because you have the ancient gene and are a more advanced human by default. Chances are you are also more advanced for other reasons. Tell me, did you ever get your head sucked, by one of them ancient head suckers?"

"Yeah." He replied, slightly annoyed.

"If you survive that, you can artificially progress, even if the knowledge is taken out of your brain."

"Will she get better?" He asked. Concern laced through his words.

Jaimee looked lost and nervous again. "Yes. I think that she will be fine. But I won't sugar coat anything. 'Stella de amour' has a different effect on everyone. I for instance suffer a lot of physical pain. But I've also heard some pretty obscure stories from the Ancient database that Colonel Jackson has managed to translate that seem to indicate that some of these cases resulted in death especially between an ancient and a human." She added sadly.

"Sam could die?" Cameron asked.

"The possibility is remote, but yes. She could die."

"Then so could you." Daniel said pointing to her.

Jaimee shook her head. "I could. But for now, I am at no risk. Other than some pain and discomfort, I will be okay." She shrugged.


	19. Hanson

"So what do we do?" Asked the General.

"Unfortunately, General, there isn't much you can do. Being near her may help but then it can also make things worse."

"Damnit, girl! I can't sit here and do nothing while my best friend is fighting for her life!"

"I'm sorry, General but that may be the only thing you can do." The General got up hastily knocking things down in his path.

"How will it make things worse?"

"Being near her will strengthen the connection you share. The more fragile it is the less harm it will have on her if it breaks."

"Whoa, whoa wait a minute," Daniel began, "That connection you said we shared, you said it was in its infancy. Right?"

"Correct."

"Does that mean that what is happening to Sam could happen to you?"

Jaimee shook her head. "No. Remember, the bond can't fully form yet. At the same time, that's why Colonel Jackson is pushing me towards Cameron instead of pulling me towards himself. He doesn't want me to have a 'Stella de amour' connection with him."

Daniel rolled his eyes and closed them "He thinks you're too young."

Jaimee licked her lips. "Yes."

"When I kissed you...?"

"The connection got stronger with the other Daniel."

Daniel had tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry."

Jaimee shrugged again. "Me too."

"Why is it happening now?" General O'Neill asked out of the blue

"By coming here, I may have inadvertently started the connection before it was suppose to exist."

"If you knew something like this was going to happen why did you come here?" He looked like he was going to kill her. Cameron was ready to assault him if the need arose.

"In all honesty, I didn't think you'd be alive. In every reality I've been to, the pair of you have been married and at least one of you has been dead."

"Great." He said with a sarcastic grimace. "But one other thing doesn't make sense."

"What's that?"

"We've loved before." Carter appeared at the door. Still as pale as ever but not feeling like she was going to puke anymore. "He loved Sarah. I loved Martouf, Narim, Hanson and Pete. Your previous sentiment implies that we can only love once."

"You shouldn't be up." General O'Neill said somewhat offhandedly.

Jaimee turned to look at Carter. Carter glanced over her and found that she was beginning to look a lot like Jack. Far from the nervous and jittery girl they met back at the SGC. "And can you honestly tell me that loving those people has been the same as loving the General?" Jaimee took one look at the pair of them and everyone else in the room. Cameron's face was plastered with jealousy, Teal'c and Daniel had casted their eyes to the ground.

Neither Carter or O'Neill said anything or looked at each other, but neither had to.

"Yeah, didn't think so."


	20. Bits that Byte

At that very moment the ship dropped out of hyper space and found a solar system completely devoid of life. Jaimee scanned all the planets for life signs and found none. She beamed aboard a Stargate and put it in the hanger bay.

"I'm going to dial a planet with an unusually unstable atmosphere to collapse a planet and create a black hole. I've activated the Asgard shields, so we should be fine."

She released the clasps of the Stargate in the hanger and it made its way to the nearest planet. The gate immediately began to pull the planet in.

"I'd say it's gonna take awhile to complete the process, we should all get comfortable," Jaimee turned around and saw that the general was supporting Sam, "in the meantime, the infirmary might be the best place for her to be right now," she hesitated a moment.

"Sir, she's going to need me to help free her friends."

"I don't want you going anywhere." The General said forcefully.

"Sir, if Cameron, Teal'c or Daniel go, they will suffer from Cascade Failure."

"Carter, I don't know if it's escaped your notice, but you're in no condition to do anything." he barked.

"Sir, I want to go."

"Carter?"

"Sir, please." She practically begged him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he carried her back to the infirmary. She fell unconscious in his arms and he began to absent-mindedly sing 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' to her. She was still muttering words of 'let me go, Sir' but everyone knew that the General would not let her go. Everyone watched the scene from a distance, but then turned their heads to the direction of the girl standing in front of them. Daniel was the first to speak.

"Just so we're clear, if this 'Stella de amour' breaks, the other me dies, or you die?"

Jaimee limped forward with the use of a nearby crutch, probably abandoned by a crew member. "At this point, nothing is clear. We're not even sure if its forming. As far as we know, the younger you are the less likely you are to die, unless the connection was forged before the brain was completely developed. Cameron thinks that might have been the case with me. So that might mean I'd die. That being said though, I am the more advanced human because of the ancient gene."

"Why is it that a younger person with a less developed brain is more likely to die, Jaimee Jackson?"

She sighed. "As I said, a younger person has a less developed brain. So kind of like a computer with 500 gigabytes compared with a terabyte hard drive - the system is easier to overwhelm and therefore shut down completely. But having the ancient gene can sort of add some extra bytes to the hard drive, so to speak, thereby limiting the damage. We just have no way of knowing how much damage it limits."

"I see."

"Black hole coming through!" Cameron cried, out of the blue.


	21. Puzzled Amusement

Everyone gathered to look at the black hole that was now forming. There were exclamations of wow's and awesome's from the crowd. That's when General O'Neill walked in. He let out an enraged sigh.

"I had finished talking with Carter, and she really wants to go."

"And?"

"And I am not letting her." He stated firmly. "I'm going with you."

"You really do love my Mom." Jaimee smiled and winked at him. For some reason, that made Jack's heart melt. Everyone was taken aback by her comment. Cameron looked like he was going to kill Jack.

He coughed to clear his throat. "What else is new?" The question was directed at Jaimee, but Cameron was the one who answered.

"The black hole has begun to form. Teal'c is going to need to beam you and me down to a planet and from there we are going to gate to P4X-977. Goa'uld Shields should protect us from time distortion. That's were Master Teal'c, Ry'ac, Colonel Cameron and Colonel Jackson are being held hostage."

"Who exactly are they being held hostage by?"

"The Ori."

"Crap."

"Sir, I think the Anti-Prior device should help." Cameron's voice said.

"I'm sorry, the Anti-Prior device?" Jaimee asked.

"It's a device, Carter developed-"

"-naturally-"

"-that temporarily blocks a prior's powers."

"You know Colonel Jackson in my reality said that the prior's operate on another frequency level foreign to our own and that sending out a signal that works in their plane of existence on their frequency will work like interference."

"That's exactly how Sam said the Anti-Prior device works!" Daniel Jackson said excitedly.

"Really? Colonel Jackson is in the middle of creating one."

Jack and Cameron took turns staring at each other. "What are they going on about?" Cameron whispered.

"I have no idea." Jack said in his mystic voice.

"Okay you egghead ready to be beamed on the planet?"

Jaimee's demeanor completely changed. "One minute." She limped over to Daniel and he started talking.

"look, I'm sorry for all the damage I've caused with you and Cameron and I'm sorry that I keep pushing you..."

But he was completely cut off by the feel of her lips crashing on his. It was a chaste kiss, but it was a kiss that he was not likely to forget. It felt good. When it was over, his face hung in mid-air and his glasses sat crookedly on his face. So did Jaimee's.

"What was that?" He asked.

Jaimee limped over to where O'Neill stood, a huge grin splayed her face. "I won't get the chance to ever do that again." Jaimee shrugged. "I'm ready, now." And the two disappeared in a bright flash of light.

Cameron slapped Daniel on the back, his glasses still sitting crookedly on his face.

"Hey! for once the nerd got the girl!" and laughed.

"I'm going to kill you later." Daniel muttered, readjusting his glasses.

Teal'c only watched his friends in puzzled amusement.


	22. The Mission was a success

When O'Neill and Jaimee were beamed aboard the planet, they appeared right beside a DHD and began to dial the address that Jaimee had given them earlier. They activated goa'uld personal shields to protect them from the gravitational pull from the black hole. Jack heard Daniel over the radio's.

"Jack?"

"What Daniel?" He asked somewhat annoyed.

"I am in the infirmary with Sam. She had a panic attack!"

"What?!"

"Jack she's getting worse!"

"What's wrong with her?" He asked Jaimee.

"I don't know, but we have to leave now before this planet is sucked into the black hole. Give me the multiverse device."

Jack tossed it to Jaimee and interfaced the device with the DHD before she began dialing. A scared look crossed his face. "Daniel!" He shrieked over his radio, "Beam me up! now!"

"Sir, you have to go with her." Carter breathed over Daniel's radio.

"No!"

"If you won't help, I'm leaving without you. It's your decision, if you come, I'll be waiting on the other side!" Then she went through the wormhole and was gone from sight.

"Sir, go!" She tried to yell over the radio.

"Damnit, Carter! I'm not leaving you while you're dying. I can't leave you behind."

"Sir, she's our daughter! She needs you more than I do." The radio went dead and she left the General to walk through the portal.

Jaimee began to wonder if the General would show up, when he materialized on the other side. The general was irate. He could see a dim figure in the distance which he assumed was Jaimee. He was right, too.

He took Jaimee by the collar and held her against one of the tree's. "What the hell happened to her?"

She turned back into the scared little girl he had seen back at the SGC. Tears began streaming down her face. "I don't know for sure, general. But it could be from the connection you share."

"That doesn't make sense!" He took his hat off and rubbed his hair. It was even more ruffled then it had been. He let go of her and meandered to a nearby tree, and punched it with force and strength that should have been long lost, years beforehand.

"The 'Stella de amour' is fickle. While it's in its early stages, it can go south, fast. The gravitational pull may have aggravated it."

"Explain it in ways that I can understand it, girl. Or I swear daughter of mine or not, I will kill you where you stand!" The general was angry.

"And I believe you." She paused here and hesitated to continue. "'Stella de amour' isn't just called that for no reason. It's a subspace connection, a string if you will that tugs you towards another person, on the molecular level. Right now that string is weak. A gravitational pull towards any which way can disturb its balance. The sooner you get back, the better."

"I do not believe this!" Jaimee jumped at his outburst. "I will kill you!"

"Sir, I'm sorry! But I feel the same way whenever I'm separated from Daniel, only to a lesser extent." She paused and took a breath, "I would move heaven and earth for Daniel. Can you tell me you wouldn't do the same for Sam?" She asked. It was more of a rhetorical question, but the General got the message.

After blowing off some steam, the General felt calm enough not to kill her. "Why did you come if you knew about this?"

"Like I said before, in most realities I've been to, the pair of you have been married already, or dead. And there was no way for me to know for sure, that the pair of you shared the same kind of connection. Although, now that I think about it, your story does seem to mimic that of Orion's and Artemis's." Jaimee said, deep in thought.

"How do you plan on getting me back?"

She turned shy again. 'dang, this girl is a pro at giving people whiplash.' He thought.

"You know that Asgard multiverse device we used to get here?" He nodded and motioned for her to continue. "Well, Cameron was carrying one when he got captured. If he still has it, we'll create another black hole using Prometheus and use it to get you back."

"If he still has it?" Both teammates navigating through the thickness of the bushes.

"that's the reason he got captured. The Ori or rather their Prior's-as far as we know, the Ori are dead, but you know that won't stop their followers- made their ways into the Pegasus galaxy and discovered that we could travel to different realities."

"What? Their intergalactic space alien ego's couldn't be satisfied with the worship of one reality so they're going after others too?"

Jaimee stopped cutting away at the undergrowth for a minute and thought. "That's not quite how I would put it, but, yes, more or less."

"Which is it? More or Less?"

Jaimee carried on in mock ponder. "More. Definitely more."

They laughed and quite suddenly, the ambiance of their surroundings changed. They saw fire, and muffled chants of "Hallowed are the Ori," sounding from a distance.

The General took out his binoculars and briefly looked through it. In the not so far off distance, he saw an Ori Prior with his staff leading a decent sized patrol of Jaffa and Wraith. He handed it to Jaimee who took it in her hands, but made no sound. In the middle of the patrol she could see Colonel's Jackson and Mitchell, Ry'ac and Teal'c.

Out of the bag that Jaimee hadn't even realised he was carrying, he took out an Anti-Prior device. He put his index finger to his mouth to indicate that Jaimee should be quiet, she nodded her head. He took one last look at the direction that the patrol was taking SGA1 and motioned for her to follow. She did. The night, Jaimee found out was her Dad's best friend. He thrived in the night, where no one could see him. If she didn't know any better could hear him singing 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'. It wasn't long before she figured out that her mother and her father both loved the stars just as much. Only, her father believed that making everything sound technical and scientific took the magic out of everything; her mother, believed that it was the science that made it magic.

It wasn't long before O'Neill threw himself out of the bushes and confronted the Prior. Jaimee couldn't believe it, her Dad wasn't that stupid. Daniel, Teal'c, Ry'ac and Cameron all looked at him gob smacked.

"Hey, Prior! Wanna piece of me?"

"Fool! You are interfering with the affairs of Gods."

"Oh yeah, then why doesn't your god strike me down?"

Beyond the Prior's abilities to comprehend, he couldn't fire his staff at O'Neill. Jaimee took that as her queue to use the General's weapon who left it conveniently beside the rock for her to use. With the help of a silencer at the end of his weapon, she managed to kill all the Jaffa, Wraith and the Prior in the patrol.

"Jack?" Daniel asked. He couldn't believe his eyes. Teal'c stood stoically with Cameron at his side. Ry'ac ran up to Jaimee and enveloped her in a warm embrace.

"How glad I am to see that no harm has come to you, Jaimee Jackson." He pressed his forehead to hers and breathed.

"Yeah. It's a long story. But we need to beam aboard Prometheus. Now."

"Can't we have time to talk to Jack first?" Daniel asked.

"We have to create a black hole in order to get the General back home. We can talk then."

"Jaimee?" Cameron asked.

"I'm sorry dad, I have a lot of explaining to do, but now is not the time to do it." Jaimee grabbed Daniel's radio out of his jacket and radioed Prometheus.

"This is Jaimee Jackson. All of SGA1 including the good General and I need to be beamed aboard right away."

"Jaimee Jackson. It's good to hear your voice." Said the captain.

"Likewise Captain. I have a one General O'Neill here from another reality who is in desperate need to get home. All personnel aboard Prometheus, including yourself, need to be beamed down to Atlantis right away."

"Understood. But did you say General O'Neill?"

"Yes, Sir. I did."

"Then I have a request."

"Shoot." She replied.

"Can I talk to him?"

Jaimee handed the radio over to the general and indicated for him to take the radio from her. He spoke into it.

"Hello?"

"It's good to hear your voice General. I had to make sure you were real."

"I am very real, Captain. And Homesick."

"Then the ship is yours General."

"Thank you, Captain."

"My pleasure."

All were soon beamed aboard an empty ship.


	23. Cheeky Boy

Jaimee moved and spoke like her mother did. All the boys around her were silent, having no idea what was going on. Jaimee activated the Asgard shields and beamed aboard the Stargate from the planet in the hanger bay. "Beginning Dialing sequence for A3X-777." The portal locked and she beamed it back to the planet.

"Okay, while that's collapsing, you had better do some explaining, young lady." Cameron pointed his finger at her for emphasis. Jaimee looked deftly at the ground, scraping her leg against the floor.

"Yes, I do." She muttered under her breath.

"What is it that you have to say Jaimee Jackson?" Teal'c spoke up. When Jaimee just looked awkwardly at the floor she took a deep breath and counted to ten.

"I left to find help for you guys, but I knew that the device Colonel Jackson and I have on our arms would alert him, if I ever left Atlantis. So I travelled to an alternate reality instead, where I knew he would feel no discomfort."

Everyone rolled their eyes. "Well thanks to the General we're all safe and sound, so what's the rush?"

Jaimee hesitated a moment. "the General and Samantha Carter in his world have 'Stella de amour' the same link that hooks me and the Colonel together." She casted her eyes downward and found solace in the stability of the floor beneath her feet.

"Well, it's not like we didn't think that was the case. Everyone on base thought that they were the star-crossed lovers mentioned in that old myth you and the Colonel are always going on about." Cameron offered.

"Yeah, but that's not everything." Daniel said flatly. All eyes turned on him. "With the subspace connection, separation over vast distances on the molecular level can result in deterioration of the cells."

"Daniel?"

"Jack?"

"English?"

"It could kill her."

"That's the rush, Dad. She could die if he doesn't go soon."

Everyone in the room turned their heads to Colonel Jackson. Cameron came to attention. "Awaiting your orders, Sir."

"At ease, Colonel." Daniel looked at the ferocity in Jaimee's nervous yet brave eye's. Then he took a look at her leg. It still hurt.

"I told them about 'Stella de amour' and they still helped me return. I figured I owed them a favour."

"I agree," Colonel Jackson turned to the General, "We have a device, we call the Asgard Multiverse Device, which allows for inter-reality travel. I assume that was the same device you used to bring her back?" Jack nodded. "We can use it to send you back, but it's going to be very painful, just like it was for her. I've had to use it myself once or twice in another reality."

Jack gave him a puzzled look. "Me and Carter don't have those fancy devices that you and Jaimee have."

Jaimee looked down at the floor. "The tracking system only provided the interface needed to operate the device. But it's not what allowed us to find each other."

"It was 'Stella de amour'," Jackson finished. "You have to have the tracking device implanted into yourself in order for it to work, but Sam doesn't."

There was no hesitation or reluctance on the general's part. "Let's rock-n-roll."

Daniel and Jack left the bridge but Daniel pulled Jack aside before entering the surgical room. "I am sorry for all the trouble we have caused. But I do appreciate you bringing her back. I know Cameron does as well."

"Look, my friend is dying. As much as I like this chit-chat let's get this show on the road." Daniel opened the door and indicated for him to go inside.

Ry'ac, Teal'c, Cameron and Jaimee were left together in the control room. Now that Daniel was gone, she didn't feel the need to hold everything in anymore. The tears came streaming down her face and she hated it. Especially in the face of her master, who was standing so close to her. The pain of her limp began feeling worse.

"I am so sorry, Master. I know you didn't want me to leave but I just had to." Teal'c wrapped his large hands around her face and wiped away her tears.

"I trained you to be a warrior and today you have become just that. I could not be more proud, Jaimee Jackson." She wrapped her small arms around his shoulders and the tears just came streaming down. He picked her up and carried her to Cameron.

"oh, I was so scared. It was all so different. All of you were so different."

"We're here now kiddo," She was still holding onto Teal'c like he was just an overgrown teddy bear and Cameron kissed her on the cheek. When she finally let go of two of the most important men in her short life, she ran over to Ry'ac and the smaller Jaffa gladly wrapped her in his arms. The tears had subsided.

"Hey, James, Ry'ac," they all turned to the source of the noise. It was Cameron. "I'm sorry to break up the party, but can you two find something to do while me and Teal'c check on the Colonel and the General?"

"Can we not come with you?" Ry'ac asked, as though his pride had been shattered.

"I'd prefer you didn't."

"But why? Am I not as strong as you?"

"My son, you are, but she is in no state to do anything." nodding his head in Jaimee's direction.

"Do you not take offence to this?" Ry'ac gasped.

Jaimee just looked tired and shook her head. "Ry'ac, you have been trained to be a warrior your whole life and although we look to be about the same age, in reality, you are about 60 years older. I am 18, still a child to you, and very new to the lifestyle of being a soldier. One day, I'll be ready for it all. But that day hasn't come. This day I have become a warrior and it has taken a lot out of me," She stole a look at Cameron when Ry'ac's temper flared. "And I would prefer not to face this day alone."

That last declaration had changed him. "Then I know exactly what we shall do." And a smile crossed his face.

Jaimee's face lit up with delight, as if the war inside her had never happened. "Ice cream!" they shouted in unison. Jaimee continued to limp and Ry'ac walked to match her pace. She grabbed his hand, like she did when she was little and both made their way to the freezer.

Cameron and Teal'c both glanced sideways at each other.

"Kids, right? An eternal case of whiplash."

The normally stoic face of Teal'c upturned into a slight smile. "Indeed, Colonel Mitchell, Indeed." And both made their ways into the surgical room where O'Neill was having the Tracking Device installed into him.

Ry'ac and Jaimee went into the freezer and stuffed their faces full of ice cream to see who could get the first brain freeze. It was a game they played when they were little children. Although they seemed to still be children in many ways.

"So what was the other reality like?"

"Well for one, you aren't on SGA1, but are married to a girl named Ky'rn on another planet. The SGC isn't destroyed and Daniel never joined the military. The General and Colonel Carter are not married and I am not even born."

Ry'ac had a pensive look on his face. "I knew a girl named Ky'rn once. We were engaged to be married."

Jaimee looked up from her tub of ice cream. "Oh, Ry'ac. I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

Ry'ac waved his hand at her as an act of dismissal. "It was long ago, before you were even born. She died on a raid on hac'tel."

"Oh Ry'ac. I can't imagine how you must be feeling." She looked wide-eyed at her best friend.

"Like I said Jaimee Jackson, It was a long time ago." They both began shoveling spoonfuls of ice cream into their mouths and then Ry'ac got a crazy glint in his eye. "Besides, there is only one thing that I feel like doing right now."

"Oh and what's that?" Jaimee looked at him somewhat puzzled.

"This." He flung ice cream onto her shirt. Most people would have been livid, but Jaimee just smiled mischievously.

"Take this!" She lashed forward and flung ice cream onto his head. Both began laughing. He poured ice cream on top of her head and she flung it in his direction, smearing each other in it.

"It is true you fight like a real warrior Jaimee Jackson, no matter what kind of weapon you wield. But I am the better fighter, yet!"

"In your dreams, Jaffa boy!"

Then they began to tackle each other to the ground in mock fight. Jaimee had him pinned to the ground when Ry'ac said "Get off me human!" with a huge grin on his face.

"you're a cheeky boy." Jaimee laughed.

"well, thanks."

That was when the smiles drifted off their faces, and the screams from the surgical room could be heard. Ry'ac and Jaimee sat up and looked at the ceiling. They knew O'Neill had the Tracking system planted into him now and was using the Multiverse device to look for his Carter.

When Jaimee heard the screaming again she covered her ears and prayed that everything was going to be okay and that the screaming would stop. When it didn't, Ry'ac wrapped his arms around her head trying to block the taunting noise, never minding the ice cream. It helped her calm down to listen to his heartbeat, but the sound still penetrated through their barriers.

It seemed like forever before Ry'ac and Jaimee could no longer hear the scream. They broke apart and Ry'ac took Jaimee by the shoulders and tried looking at her in the eye's but she avoided eye contact with him.

"Are you alright, Jaimee Jackson?" Jaimee still had her hands over her ears but nodded. That's when Teal'c came inside the freezer and saw the mess the two were both in. He smiled at their innocence.

"Ry'ac, Jaimee Jackson, you need to wash up before meeting with the others." He smiled and inclined his head. "Jaimee Jackson, I believe that Colonel Jackson has some extra clothes you may borrow."

"But Master I..."

"No. You will need to change."

Jaimee sighed and her temper was flaring but still managed to let out a quiet "Yes, Master" before Teal'c left. "I'm going to take a shower Ry'ac."

"I'll see you later then, Jaimee Jackson." While the Ice cream was all over him, he just stripped off his Jaffa chain mail and bent his head over a faucet. He was done in five minutes. 'boys have it so easy.' she thought as she left him in there.

Jaimee Jackson however had taken a little bit longer to clean. She realised that her girlishness was kicking in. Even a year ago, Jaimee would have done more or less the same thing that Ry'ac had done; rinsing her hair in cold water. But today was not a year ago and she relished in the warmth of the water and took a little longer to wash her hair.

She turned off the water and slipped into her clothes that hadn't been tainted by ice cream. That left all but her sweatshirt. Her jeans, boots, t-shirt, jacket and undershirt were clean. But she had to get one of Daniels sweatshirts if she was to feel completely clothed. She reluctantly pulled one over her head and felt her heart flutter. The shirt was too big for her and she drowned in it just like she did in all her other clothes. After the mental examination of her lacking wardrobe, she came to one conclusion. Jaimee Jackson was never one for femininity.

'So what's changed?' she thought.

Daniel's oversized sweatshirt wasn't disturbingly unlike the rest of her clothes she had, so why was she feeling different wearing it. She took a sniff of the sweatshirt and smelled Daniel's scent all over it and her body was racked with electricity that she hadn't known of before. And it scared her, but it felt good. She looked through some more of his clothes and found a t-shirt that could replace her undershirt and the t-shirt she was currently wearing. Daniel's scent swallowed her up. She hurriedly left the bathroom to meet Daniel and the others, not bothering to dry her hair or even brush it.


	24. Race to Carter

Everyone was gathered in the Control room for a meeting. Jaimee had walked in a little late, nerves wracked with a new sensation. She felt bile rise in her mouth as Daniel looked at her. The pain was gut-wrenching.

"We have successfully found General O'Neill's proper reality, we just need a portal to get there."

"Actually that's not going to be a problem." Daniel replied dryly.

"It's not?" Cameron asked.

Daniel shook his head. "follow me."

Each member of SGA1, Jaimee and General O'Neill followed him behind a door that read, "Authorized Personnel only" and opened the door to reveal a dead-end corridor. There was a key card lock at the end of the hallway. Daniel swiped it. Then a disembodied female voice stated "Name and Rank, please."

"Colonel Daniel Jackson."

Jack O'Neill was finding it very difficult to accept the fact that his best friend in another reality had decided to go Military. He was very proud of his friend, but knowing that he was a nerd in his reality and a super-nerd in this reality, knowing both Astrophysics and Archeology, he couldn't help but laugh.

Behind the doors was a hanger bay with a Stargate in the very centre.

"Our ship has a Stargate?" Asked Cameron, exasperation evident in his voice.

"This ship's best kept secret, I'm afraid. Only three people were suppose to know about it. And it's going to stay that way." Colonel Jackson warned.

Everyone in the room caught on to his meaning and nodded their heads in agreement. A DHD was situated by the General. "Look, Jack. I'm only going to say it once, Sam is likely to be in danger. You need to stay beside her until she wakes up. She'd be in a lot of pain. If Jaimee is right about the Sub-space connection, then it is quite possible that she will die. It is imperative that you stay beside her. Close approximation may be all it needs to repair 'Stella de amour'."

"I understand." All sarcasm was completely gone from his voice and demeanor. He took one look at Jaimee and said "Take care of her."

Daniel put his arm around her waist without looking at her and placed his chin on the exposed skin of her neck. Jaimee's body once again had electricity run through it. "I will." He said.

Cameron turned to look at the Multiverse device then turned to look at Jaimee. "Hey James, think you can hook this up with that?"

Jaimee broke away from Daniel's gentle embrace and took the Multiverse device from Cameron and plugged it in to the DHD. Then began crying.

"It's the first time I've seen my Dad. My real dad." The General understood and wrapped her in his arms.

"And my little girl is growing up just fine." He remarked. He gave her a wink and she fell back into Daniel's loving embrace.

Cameron spoke up next, "General," O'Neill turned around as Cameron tossed him something. "This is an ancient handheld computer thingy, actually I'm not sure what it is exactly, but Carter will figure it out. Anyway, it has info on the Star-Crossed lovers stuff that Colonel Jackson and James keep going on about."

Cameron stepped back, and Daniel took over, "We figured it was the least we could do, given all that we've put you through."

"That might come in handy, thanks." O'Neill briefly looked at the scene before him. Everyone was family here, and that's just what Jaimee needed to get through this. If he couldn't be here for her, he was sure glad it was someone like Cameron to take care of her and whip Daniel's butt if he stood out of line. CO or no CO, Jaimee was Cameron's daughter and he would do anything to protect her.

But time for sentimentality was over. O'Neill punched his IDC into his GDO and ran up to the portal at a speed that should have disappeared with age.

And in a flash, he was gone.

Daniel turned to Jaimee and held both her hands close to his chest. Jaimee's heart raced and for once she felt like a giddy schoolgirl.

"Can you guys leave? I want to talk to Jaimee. Alone." Teal'c and Ry'ac left, with no questions asked but Cameron hung around for a bit longer. Sensing Cameron's presence, Daniel swiftly turned around. "That's an order." He said.

Cameron grumbled. "If he hurts you..."

"I'll come running." She assured.

"I love you, Kiddo."

"I love you, Daddy." And even in front of Colonel Jackson, Jaimee was not afraid to admit it. Cameron begrudgingly left the hanger bay.

"Something wrong, Daniel?" She asked, half wishing that Cameron had stayed because at that very moment, she felt like a little girl again. A feeling that she was becoming well acquainted with these days.

"We've been married nearly a year. And we haven't been acting like it much."

"You've said that I'm too young to realise what I have been getting myself into."

"And I still believe that."

Jaimee had a confused look on her face. "So what's wrong?" Jaimee's heart began pounding. Colonel Jackson's face became contorted in a manner most unbefitting. He scratched at his head for the words, but they just wouldn't come. Realising that he never had the words to describe how he felt or what he meant, to begin with he gripped her face with both of his hands and his lips just came crashing down on hers. Jaimee didn't see it coming.

At first she was shocked, but then eased into it. The connection that had been tugging them in each other's direction all those years, had developed into an elastic band, enveloping them both.

Colonel Jackson had been expecting Jaimee to deepen the kiss, but when she didn't he put his hand behind her head and pressed her into himself, pulling her even closer. She followed along until he tried putting his hand on the exposed skin that his shirt that she was wearing wouldn't cover. She felt his warm hands burn like iron against her cold skin. She pulled away.

Thinking he had done something wrong and way out of bounds, he asked, "Is everything okay?" She looked down at the floor but he lifted her chin up. "hey, what's wrong?"

Jaimee took a deep breath, "I don't know how I'm feeling. I don't get it. It felt good, but so bad at the same time. I don't know what's going on, or even if its normal. So can we just take it slow?" She pleaded.

Daniel looked down at her with brooding passion. "You do look good in my clothes," he muttered and against all his instincts he promised, "We'll take it slow."


	25. Sprach zu Ancient?

General O'Neill ran towards the exit of the gate room at an alarming speed. He saw General Landry up at the Control Room. "I'm sorry, General. No time to explain." The General made a beeline for the infirmary where he somehow knew she would be.

He had hoped that he would find Carter and everything would be okay. Instead he saw his three friends gathered around the infirmary bed, worried about their teammate. All of them had been too busy to notice that the General had made his way into the room. Each bore looks of helplessness.

Sam was writhing on the hospital bed in pain and in restraints. Daniel was the first to see Jack by the door.

"Jack."

Cameron didn't even acknowledge the fact that the General was in the room. He was too busy wiping sweat off of Sam's face. Daniel waved for Jack to come in.

"Where's doc?"

Daniel pointed to the observation room above them. He saw Doctor Frasier standing beside Generals Landry and Hammond.

"I guess Hammond wanted to see how the Colonel is doing too, eh?"

Daniel had a distant look on his face, staring only at his hurting teammate. "Jack, she's been like this since you left." He said as if he hadn't even heard Jack. Daniel turned to look at him, "She has been muttering in her sleep, too."

"What did she say?"

"'Sir is hooked up to the device and it will kill him', 'Sir, kill me.' She began wailing and crying and writhing in pain. For a long time we thought she wouldn't make it."

Jack heard him, but acted like he didn't. He still carried the hand held computer. He offered it to Daniel who took it in his hands. "What's this?"

"It's some ancient tech that the other Mitchell gave me. He said that it could explain 'Stella de amour'."

"Jack."

"Just turn it on and translate it." He grabbed Daniel's shirt and shoved him against the nearest wall. "My friend is about to die. So you translate that thing or her's won't be the only funeral to attend tonight!"

"General!" Cameron, Landry and Hammond yelled at the same time. Teal'c stood up from where he was sitting on the edge of Carter's bed and held him back. Cameron did the same to Daniel. Daniel's glasses were sitting crookedly on his face. His first reaction was to push them back up his nose as he had done as a little kid when he was getting picked on by the bigger boys, but found that he couldn't because his arms were being held behind him by Cameron. He was about to open his mouth in protest to Jack about translating the device, but he could see the anger in Jack's eyes flare and thought better of it.

Carter stirred in her sleep mumbling something about Jack being in trouble. All eyes in the room looked at the sleeping women as though she was a very dear child.

Jack looked at him with frustration evident on his face. "Daniel, Carter doesn't have much time. Help me. Please."

Daniel shrugged off Cameron's hold on him and pushed his glasses back up on his nose. "I can't turn this on Jack. You have to."

"What?"

Daniel sighed. "It's ancient. Only someone with an Ancient Gene can activate it. That's you."

"And how exactly do I do that, Daniel?" Jack's anger flaring again.

Daniel furrowed his eyebrow's in concentration. "I don't know, but you managed to fly the Puddlejumper okay and activate the stones. Just think it, I s'pose."

"Daniel?"

"T-t-truth is Jack this isn't my specialty. It's Sam's. I don't know what I am doing either. But you have to try." Daniel handed the device over to Jack, who reluctantly took it from him. Jack closed his eyes as he took a firm grip of it. He took a deep breath, and in an instant the device powered up. And for some inexplicable reason, Carter took a deep breath. And everything stopped moving.

"False alarm," Cameron stated.

"Is it on?" Jack asked.

"Yes." Daniel said, snatching the device out of O'Neill's pale hands.

"What's it say?" O'Neill was calm, but dangerously so. Daniel knew that Jack really would kill him if it meant saving Sam. He had to think. Fast.

"Oh, this is interesting."

"please, enlighten us," all occupants of the room glared at him. He put his hands up in defense and added "no pun intended."

"It appears to be a diary or a Journal."

"Whose?" Asked Jack impatiently, ready to beat the hell out of his best friend at any given moment.

Daniel looked up for a brief moment. "Artemis's. But what's interesting is that the latest entry isn't from her. It's from Jaimee."

"So?"

"So that's not even the most interesting part. It's in German."

"Who the hell would have taught that girl German?" piped Cameron.

"I did. Listen to this; 'Today I am 16 and for some reason I get this weird feeling when I'm near Daniel. It isn't one of those schoolgirl crushes that Dad keeps going on about thought. It's like a Black Hole that's sucking me through. If anyone is reading this, don't throw it away. This isn't a journal of a pesky little 16 year old. My name is Jaimee O'Neill and my friend Colonel Jackson showed this to me and taught me how to write in German and read Ancient. This morning he talked about Artemis, Apollo and Orion and them possibly being real people who were hosts to Tok'ra symbiotes. The doctor ran a DNA test on me to check for a match to a preserved ancient DNA blood sample we think was taken of Artemis. It was a match, to both the Naquada and the Ancient gene. The doctor thinks that this is my distant ancestor. This is her diary. And this is how I feel towards Daniel. Right now its scaring me."

"So?"

Now Daniel was getting impatient. "That's where her entry ends. Artemis takes everything on from there. The rest of it is in Ancient." Daniel let out a frustrated grunt. "It's all very technical Jack. Without Sam, I'm not sure I can do the rest of the translating."

"Daniel?"

Daniel was flipping through the device like an e-Book. "Artemis explains that there is a sub-space connection, 'Stella de amour', through a 'Thread Hypothesis.'" Cameron, Daniel and Teal'c looked puzzled. But to their amazement, Jack was not.

"It translates into Thread Hypothesis, but if you know anything about Quantum Physics, it means the String theory."

Everyone in the room blinked at the General, even more puzzlement evident in their faces. Daniel was the first to snap out of his reverie and glanced back down at the device in his hand. "From what I can gather, the molecules bind together to create a string. Depending on how that string vibrates it can cross 11 different dimensions."

"That's what me and Sam got?" As the General rubbed his head.

"Yes. It goes on to explain that in the first stages of molecular binding, the Strings are very delicate and can easily unravel causing traumatic brain injury, torture when being ripped apart or death. But being in close proximity can't fix it entirely."

"What do you mean?" Cameron enquired.

"See, according to this, it's a literal, physical connection, the 'String' pulling you and Sam together, is an actual String, it's just too small to be seen by the naked eye."

"So what do I do, Daniel?" Jack's teeth were set on edge.

"Ahhh. This is an old dialect. I am going to need my notes for this one." Daniel wondered out of the room, leaving Cameron, Jack and Teal'c to worry about their friend.

"What's going on, Son?" Hammond called over the intercom. He had intended to question to be directed at Jack, but Cameron answered. 'Leave the Star-Crossed lovers to themselves,' he thought with morbidity.

"Sir, General O'Neill brought back a hand held computer or something like that, that's apparently a journal or diary of some sort of an Ancient that he thinks can help us understand what the matter is with Sam. Jackson has gone to translate it."

"Very good, Son. Anything we can do to help?" It was Landry that time.

Cameron spared a glance at O'Neill, who was now hunched over Carter's bed. He only shook his head. Cameron's arms had folded over his chest. "No, Sir. It's all up to Danny boy now."

"Alright. We've got some business to attend to. Call us if anything happens."

Cameron raised his hand in a loose salute. "Yes, Sir. Will do."

Doctor Frasier, Hammond, and Landry exited the observation room in one swift movement. And the only thing that was on Cameron's mind was how jealous he was of General O'Neill.


	26. No, sir, please

Hours had passed without incident. The boy's of SG1 were crowding around her when she suddenly stirred. General O'Neill tried to calm himself down. But he didn't feel like an overgrown kid today. No, today he felt his age. The crushing weight of the world were once again on his shoulders and his knees were giving out. His back hurt and it took him a little while to cave to the pain. He chalked it all up to his combat training and black ops, but he knew that it was something else. Like something was dragging him away and into a black hole.

Carter began screaming.

Cameron and Teal'c immediately got to their feet and tried to calm her down. But her eyes were still closed.

"Do you not think that you should alert General Hammond and General Landry, Cameron Mitchell."

"Right you are, T." Cameron made his way over to the speaker. "General Landry and General Hammond to the observation room. Repeat! Generals Landry and Hammond to the observation room!"

Carter was moaning in pain. She felt as if her body was boiling and would explode. "No, Sir, Please."

"Upping the dosage of sedative." Doctor Frasier rushed in. She took a moment to let the sedative kick in but Sam continued screaming and began yanking on her restraints. "Not responding" She told Hammond and Landry who were up in the observation room.

"Sir! Please! Kill me! Kill me! KILL ME!" She shrieked.

"Carter, I'm here!"

"Sir, it hurts too much! Kill me!" She was in hysterics now. Jack gripped her head in his hands firmly, and felt voltage course through his muscles. He felt some of what she felt. But feeling her pain, didn't take it away from her. "Kill me!" She kept screaming. He jumped back at the loudness of her voice, and let go for a moment. But only a moment.

"Doc, do something!"

That's when Daniel ran to the scene that was playing out in the infirmary.

"I've tried!" She yelled at the General. "Nothing is working!"

"Jack. The thread linking you and the Colonel can only be repaired by intense stimuli to the neurons closest to the brain!"

"What the hell does that mean, Daniel?"

"Kill me, SIR!"

"You have to kiss her, Sir." Janet turned towards the General.

"WHAT?" He let go of Carter's head.

"The neurotransmitters pick up stimuli from the lips faster than other nerves throughout the body." She stated matter-of-factly.

Carter's head cleared a moment and despite the physical pain she was coherent, if only for a moment. "No, sir." She coughed. "It isn't possible. The String's don't react that way. There has to be something else wrong with me."

"Carter!"

"Sir, please. Check for something else." Then she twisted and turned in ways that should be impossible for humans. She lifted her restraints and continued screaming.

Jack turned to Daniel in question and worry. Daniel took off his glasses and bowed his head. "Look, Jack, physically there is nothing wrong with her. Frasier said that she should be in perfect health."

"Then why is she like this, Daniel?" He screamed walking closer to him and grabbing him by his shirt and shoving him against the wall again.

"The only explanation is that this connection that Jaimee was talking about is true." He paused. "The text explains that the less advanced species that this molecular binding happens too, will die. It's like her cells are breaking down on the molecular level. You have to kiss her."

Jack dropped his friend to the ground. He fell with a loud thump.

He walked over to Carter who was still writhing in pain. He bent down by her bedside, took her hands in her restraints, and spoke. "Look Carter, I don't know what's going on here. Alternate realities give me headaches.."

Carter let out a painful laugh, but it sounded distorted, like metal on concrete.

"But I trust Daniel's judgment. If he's right, and giving you the kiss of life is all it takes, then I think we should give it a shot."

Carter shook her head uncontrollably and incessantly. "No, sir." She managed to squeak. "We can't." She coughed and began writhing again. "Sir, we-" The General's heart sank to the bottom of his stomach. He felt bile rise to his mouth and felt an all around pain coming from inside his body. When her screams resumed, she shook her head to get it away from the General, but his hands took her head again.

"Kill me, Sir."

"Not going to happen, Carter."

"We'll pull through this Sam. We always do." Cameron's voice came from a lonely corner from the back of the room.

"Indeed." Teal'c inclined his head.

Sam's eyes bore into Jack's. "Kill me." She earnestly desired to die. "Kill me, Sir."

"Carter, stop saying that. That's an order."

"Sir-" Her wailing had continued and no amount of sedative or morphine was going to dull it. She struggled against her restraints. "Sir, make it stop!"

"Oh for crying out loud." He took his hat off his head and it flew to the ground as his lips crashed onto hers. At first she tried to pull back from his kiss, but she felt a firm hand at her neck. Then she realised that her pain had stopped. Quite suddenly, the black hole didn't feel so black anymore.

She eased into the kiss and so did he. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled on her to sit up slightly. Their lips tore away from each other to catch their breaths. Neither one noticing that Carter had phased through the restraints that were holding her.

"All vitals returning to normal." Remarked the Doctor. Cameron wasn't feeling very good. He just saw a Commanding Officer kiss the girl of his dreams.

"Hey, T. I ain't feeling so hot. I'm gonna go."

Teal'c turned to Cameron with concern written all over his face. "Are you sick like Colonel Carter had been, Cameron Mitchell?"

"Nah. I'm good." Cameron left the room to the star-crossed lovers and sat outside the infirmary. He crouched to the ground and rubbed the sweat off his face. Although Cameron Mitchell wasn't feeling the tug of a black hole, he was far from good. He knew that the moment the General and Carter had kissed. He turned to look at what was going on behind the door. General O'Neill and Colonel Carter had not released from their embrace. His heart sank further still, if that was possible.

"Carter?"

"Sir, it's not possible. The String theory does not work that way. The strings don't bind solid matter to other solid matter that is fully formed and operates on our level of-"

"Carter." He cut her off. "I think this connection is real. No matter what explanation you have against it."

Sam was taken aback. "What makes you say that, sir?"

Daniel came out from against the wall. "We had to put you in restraints because you were getting seizures and falling off the bed and hallucinating that everyone on this base was out to kill Jack. You actually made it to the Gate Room, before I zatted you." Jack glared at him, but Daniel ignored it. "When we wouldn't let you leave, you began cutting yourself with a scalpel, like how Cassie did when she was in High School and College and in a manner similar to how Jaimee explained." His gaze temporarily fell on Jack. When he didn't respond Daniel continued. "And when Jack kissed you, you phased through the restraints and were restored to perfect health."

"I concur." Teal'c muttered.

"Phase? As in passed right through them?"

Jack indicated to the restraints tied to the bed. She noticed that they hadn't been undone. "But how?"

"Strings manipulate molecules. Maybe they can manipulate to phase."

Cameron heard a sob coming from Colonel Carter. "Sir, it's not possible." Sam was in denial because like Jaimee she was afraid to love. For as much as she loved her former commanding officer, she wanted any reason she could conjure to prove that the String Theory wasn't true. She had looked down at her wrists. They looked like they had been cut by exacto knives. Tears began streaming down her face.

"Sam, there was a lot of blood coming out of your wrists."

"Sir. I had a dream. Hanson... he tried to..." she paused, and took a breath. "He tried to hurt me and you. I had dreams that I cut myself. Like I did when I was with Hanson. There was blood... so much blood."

The General wrapped her up in his arms and muttered into her neck. "I won't hurt you. Not like Hanson. You don't have to be afraid anymore. I'm not going anywhere." He paused. "I promise." He added.

"Sir, you were dying. They had you hooked up to the multiverse machine. I felt it, you were gone. You were dying." She sobbed into his shoulder.

"Carter, I'm here," pointing to her heart. "Always."

Cameron, who was still listening in from out in the hall found it difficult to hold back the tears. He gripped his stomach and punched the walls. He breathed deeply and suddenly felt very tired. His heart was no longer beating, but having Carter alive was better than not having her at all.


End file.
